Dead Rising 3: A New Player
by Penny B Farthing
Summary: Based on the game "Dead Rising 3", this story closely follows the storyline of the game, with a new love interest as its central focus. The writing conveys a realistic portrayal of surviving a zombie outbreak in Los Perdidos e.g. in battle scenes, Nick does not get shot several times and recover his health by having a cup of coffee. Reviews welcome! A new chapter every week. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Well, that was a bust," Nick muttered to himself as he navigated his way back through the quarantine zone. _No food and no way out. I have no idea why I volunteered for this._ There were a few stray zombies lumbering around, but at this stage Nick found it easier to run around them than to fight them off with his wrench.

He hesitated for a moment as he approached the gauntlet. There must have been hundreds of people in the holding area before they turned zombie. Now only a chain link fence separated him and the hoard on either side. "Come on, Nick, you've got to go," he said to himself in the way of a pep talk. He quietly walked through the corridor drawing the eyes of every zombie in the pen. As he progressed through the corridor, their growls and the rattling of the fences grew louder. _You're half way now, home and hosed._

As if in ironic response to his optimism, the fence began to tear behind him.

"Holy Shit!" he said, as he picked up the pace, and then just to his right the fence busted open.

"Fuck!" he set off at full sprint now. The zombies were spilling into the corridor and out into the open. One particularly large prisoner zombie in an orange jump suit took a particular liking to Nick, and he set off after him at an alarming pace. This led Nick to think for a crazy moment that perhaps they didn't forget everything they were as people after all…

After a sprint out of the quarantine zone and into the sunlight, the day brought fresh horror. The previously abandoned road into the nearest exit out of Los Perdidos was overrun.

"Shit shit shit!" without much thought Nick ran for a gap in the pack and dove through an opening of the freeway fencing to the road below. He liked to think he was pretty agile, however he misjudged the distance, his knees clipped the bottom edge of the paving, and he hit the road below.

The next thing he remembered, he was on his back looking up at the sky. His eyes couldn't focus, as he tried to collect himself and take in his surroundings a face started to come into view. His ears were ringing, but he could hear someone talking to him, asking him questions.

"Can you hear me?" said a voice trying to obtain a response. "Can you walk?"

 _At least it's not a zombie, but in an outbreak that's not always such a good thing either._ He scrambled to standing and tried to square them off in a defensive position, however stumbled to his knees. As his eyes finally began to focus, he could see his two hands out in front of him steadying himself on the pavement. A pair of woman's hands reached down and gently grabbed both forearms, pulling him to standing and holding him steady. She had long dark hair and thick eyelashes framing a large set of violet eyes.

"We have to go now. They are coming for us. Can you walk?" she asked kindly.

"Yeah," Nick said, although not sounding as confident as he would have liked.

"We've got to move, do you have somewhere to be?" asked the stranger.

"The diner."

"Not sure where that it is, can you take me?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Which direction?"

Nick looked around to get his bearings. It was a fucking disaster zone. The road ahead was teaming with the dead, and the freeway behind and above them had kamikaze zombies tumbling over the edge with their characteristic lack of self-regard.

They both saw it and heard it at the same time. A plane... in a nosedive... heading in their direction.

"SHIT!" it was the girl saying it this time.

"That way!" shouted Nick, pointing at the road ahead towards the diner and a group of cars for shelter. She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards cover. Fuelled by adrenaline, Nick ran towards the wrecks and jumped for cover as a large passenger aircraft flew close overhead. It crashed a few hundred yards ahead of them, and he felt the searing heat as the jet exploded into flames.

After the crash settled and Nick regained his composure, he realised he had both arms and his body shielding his new companion from the blast. He removed his arms from around her and placed his hands on the edge of the car for support.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she was breathing heavily.

"The diner's not far. We've just got to make it down the road a ways, through a short underground walkway to the left and the diner is right there. Can't miss it."

"Are you ready?" she looked at him intently as if to gauge his strength. He would have said the look was unsettling but for the concern on her face. Once again, her eyes struck him. They were really quite beautiful.

"I guess I don't have a choice. Let's go," he said, and was surprised by how brave he sounded. As they stood up he saw hundreds of them on the road, many distracted by the plane crash ahead. He still had his wrench and he looked at the woman to see how she would defend herself. She reached into an external strap on her calf and retrieved a knife with knuckle-duster grip. In one leap she jumped to the hood of the nearest car, then lightly stepped onto the roof and looked back at Nick. _I guess we're doing this._

The best way through dead seemed to be by jumping from car to car. As they leapt from hood to trunk he heard a sickening scream. To their right, a dying survivor of the crash stumbled amongst a dozen zombies having chunks taken out of him from all around. Nick stared momentarily at the scene in fear and horror as he decided what to do. Before he could act, she drew a handgun from her hip holster and shot the survivor in the skull with one shot. Nick turned to her in shock.

"We have to go," she said, "they know we're here now." _What just happened?_

But there was no time to contemplate. The group surrounding the dying survivor had disbanded. Half had descended on the dead man to eat, while the other half had turned their attention to them. This was bad. In Nick's experience, once a few zombies paid attention to you, soon they all would. They picked up their pace and made it about 8 cars along before their gravy train ended.

She leapt onto the road to make way for a gap in front. Nick had never seen such swift and efficient zombie killing before. She stabbed the first zombie in the skull and withdrew her knife with relative ease, while kicking another to her left to the ground. Without wasting time, Nick jumped into the fray and swung his wrench 3 times in quick succession at a zombie blocking his way. The one on the ground started to stir and he stomped on its head for good measure. She was already a few paces ahead and had downed 5 zombies around her. _How does she do that?_

Once they found the break, they were upon the entrance to the crashed plane. It was a sad sight to see. Unfortunate looking hand luggage was strewn around the abandoned seats. Zombies still strapped to their seats snarled and struggled to grab at them. She was searching for supplies in the plane as she went and shoving them in a small backpack. Nick decided to follow suit and grabbed a mini bottle of wine he found on an overturned airline trolley.

She looked over at Nick to see him holding aloft a mini bottle of airplane red. He suddenly felt very foolish and gave her a sheepish grin. To Nick's surprise she cracked the first smile he ever saw from her.

"There'll be plenty of time for that later. How much further is the diner?" she said.

"Just through this next section of road and to the left."

They both heard another scream calling out far ahead in the crowd. It was too late for her, her arm had been torn off, and she was trying to scramble away with the other. Nick looked to his new acquaintance with helplessness. She drew her gun once more and with astonishing accuracy, shot the survivor in the head with one bullet.

"Jesus," he said.

"I know, I'm sorry. Sometimes there is nothing I can do," she said as she looked down in her pack. Although Nick could see she was looking at nothing. Avoiding his eyes.

The next stretch of road was much like the first. Car to car, make for a gap, and repeat. The violet-eyed woman was clearing a path with ease, however Nick thought he was holding his own as well. He was getting better with his wrench, knocking down, dodging and stomping the dead as he went. Just when Nick was so out of breath he thought he couldn't swing another blow, the entrance to the tunnel came into sight. They entered the concrete structure, and thankfully there were fewer zombies in the tunnel. The grates underneath them were teeming with zombies however, and Nick was sure to be careful of his step.

They exited the tunnel. "Just there," he said, pointing to the entrance of the lime green building with the words "The Dilly Diner" emblazoned in neon lights. As they hurtled towards the door he yelled, "Rhonda let us in!" The door opened inwards and they both ran through, however a lone zombie near the entrance tried to follow after them. The new girl assisted Rhonda and Nick to shut the door by putting her back to it and using her legs as leverage. Once the door clicked shut, she closed her eyes and breathed heavily, apparently recovering from the effort.

Before anyone had time to collect themselves, the straggler zombie had smashed the small viewing window of the door and had grabbed a large chunk of the new girl's thick dark hair. She let out a small scream and dropped her knife, instinctively grabbing the other end of her hair to prevent herself from being pulled towards the zombie's open jaw.

"Oh my God!" Rhonda said, as she stepped back and covered her mouth in disbelief, while looking around for something with which to fend it off. Nick acted faster than he thought was possible. He grabbed the knife from the ground with his right hand and held the back of her skull with his left. For a moment it seemed like time slowed down. The stranger looked up into Nick's eyes as she struggled to pull her hair free. Nick looked into her eyes and realised she as terrified.

Nick sliced through her hair at the base of her skull, freeing her from its grasp and throwing her to the ground. The zombie grabbed Nick's forearm and pulled it in for a taste.

Rhonda lunged her crow bar through the eye socket of the zombie, and it slumped to the ground outside with the crow bar still firmly lodged in its brain. Nick slumped to the ground on his ass and then laid flat on his back, struggling to catch his breath.

"What the fuck happened? And who is this?" said Dick pointing to the recently shorn woman on the floor.

"We're not going to make it!" said Peter, a survivor who had held up with the others at the diner with his mother since the outbreak. "There's too many of them, and we have NO FOOD".

"Here," she said, reaching into her bag and pulling some packets of airline snacks and water, throwing something to each of them in the room. There was Dick, a trucker who unfortunately stopped in to Los Perdidos just before the outbreak 3 days earlier, Peter, his mother, Rhonda and an illegal girl named Annie.

"And my name's Harriet."

"Nice to meet you Harriet," said Nick, as he momentarily looked up from the floor, still too exhausted to get up. "And thanks for saving my ass back there."

"I aught to be thanking you, but I have to say… for a second there, I thought you were going to kill me."

"Kill you?" he said, genuinely perplexed.

"This is touching, but we've got to make a game plan. It's only a matter of time before they break in," said Rhonda.

"Relax sweetheart. As long as they're out there and we are in here, we have nothing to worry about," said Dick, while leaning against the jukebox. The music started up instantly, and "Jukebox in Siberia" started blaring from the diner's sound system.

Nick leapt up in an instant, "Turn it off! Turn it off!" he said, as he lunged at the power cord. The music stopped, however the damage had been done. The zombies in the street around the diner started paying more attention and lumbered towards the windows.

"We're all gonna DIE!" screamed Peter's mother, as she ran towards the door and outside before anyone had a chance to stop her.

"MOTHER!" he shouted, as the zombies surrounded her. She screamed as the first one grabbed her ankle and took a chunk out of her calf. It was all happening too quickly. Peter ran after her and was being pulled out of the door by a pack of zombies as Nick grabbed his arm and attempted to pull him to safety.

Harriet was there in an instant. She drew her handgun and shot Peter's mother through the opening of the door whiles simultaneously trying to pull Peter back inside. A zombie bit Peter right in the neck as he screamed helplessly. Her second shot was for Peter's face; forcing his body back in to the crowd of zombies and giving her time push the door shut once more.

"That's given us some time, but we need to get out of here, now. Where else can we go?" said Harriet.

It took Rhonda a little while to respond, trying to digest what she had just seen. As a spray of intestines hit the window, Dick blew chunks on the floor. "I have a garage in Ingleton. It's not too far from here, but we have nothing to fight them off with! I just lost my crowbar in the last one!"

"Okay," said Harriet, "everyone try to find a weapon."

"I've got a sledgehammer," said Dick, wiping the vomit from his mouth.

"Good. What else have we got?" asked Harriet.

"I don't know. We're kind of slim on the ground here honey," said Rhonda. "Nick, you're good at fixing things. I've seen you come up with genius stuff at the garage. Can you rig something up?" Rhonda looked at Nick who was pacing up and down with his hands in his hair.

"Yeah… Yeah. I can get something together." Nick said as the windows of the diner started to break. He grabbed the sledgehammer from Dick, and a cement saw he found on the ground. Peter was so happy when he found it. He thought it was going to keep him and his mother safe.

Nick rigged together a sledge saw with nothing but duct tape. It was amazing. He couldn't help but give himself a small grin. He looked over at Harriet who was shaking her head, however he noticed she was giving a small grin too.

"Okay, they're coming in, is there a back exit?" said Harriet more seriously.

'Yeah, through the kitchen," said Rhonda.

"We'll find a car as soon as we can. Nick and I will take point. You three make sure no stragglers come at us from behind." Harriet said, taking control.

"Screw this! I've got places to be," Annie pulled her bat from behind the counter and took off through the front door. With great skill she made for the breaks and swung her bat at the heads of any zombies in her way. She was quick and made it through the pack with no problems.

"Okay, just you two then," said Harriet, "let's move."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Their car pulled up at Wrench O Rama, and as it rolled to a stop all four jumped out of the car making it to the safety of the garage. It was a close call. Nick drove at alarming speed, taking hand break turns around corners so they didn't have to slow down. As zombies tried to climb into the moving vehicle, the passengers stabbed, pushed and kicked off the clingers. One particularly persistent clinger on the driver's side grabbed Nick's shirt. Harriet, who was in the front passenger seat, pulled out her gun, leant across with her hand on Nick's shoulder and shot it at point blank range.

"Jesus CHRIST!" said Dick, as they closed the door behind them.

"Jesus Christ is right, I didn't think we were going to make it!" said Rhonda.

"But we did, and now we've got to figure out how the hell to get out of this town," said Nick, "the exit North of Ingleton was a quarantine station, but it was overrun and the exit was blocked."

This news hit Dick and Rhonda hard. They must have figured his trip was unsuccessful, but to hear it was abandoned and blocked was a shock. "Where is the army? The police? Why are we the only ones in Los Perdidos fighting for our lives here?" said Rhonda.

"Something isn't right," said Harriet, "the emergency services within the city have fallen, but they should have sent reinforcements by now. It's been three days! It's like the government has left us for dead."

"You're beginning to sound like those illegals. All conspiracy," Rhonda said in a sarcastic tone, "they are the ones who started this thing!"

"Harriet's right," said Nick, uncharacteristically siding against Rhonda, "nothing's adding up, and we're flying blind here. We have no idea what move to make next."

Rhonda let out an exaggerated sigh. "Fine, we need information. We have a TV here but it's on the fritz. I can get it working but I need a little time. Let' see what we can scavenge here, and I'll try to get it working."

Rhonda left the three of them in the reception area and headed towards the garage to work on the TV. Harriet sat on the front desk feeling the back of her head. Nick took in Harriet for the first time since they met. She was about 5"7 and was wearing faded black skinny jeans with a white singlet top. She looked made for the outbreak. She had a gun holster around her narrow hips, with spare clips and two handguns, a knife holster around her calf and a backpack with weapons storage on her back. Her hair had been long and dark however now had a large chunk taken out of the back. Her eyes were the most startling thing about her. Large violent eyes, framed with long dark lashes. But now Nick had time to observe her, he saw her other features. She had flawless olive skin, straight white teeth and high cheekbones. She also had these small soft looking hands…

As if in response to his observing she said, "I'm probably going to need to do something about this hair. It was stupid of me to keep it long. I should have at least tucked it back in a cap. Anything they can grab you buy is dangerous."

"Darling, can you blame them? I'm sure you get grabbed at all the time, and not just by zombies either," said Dick in a mild southern drawl, as he walked towards her leaning one hand on the desk she sat on. He casually looked her up and down and his eyes rested on her face. "What the fuck's up with your eyes?"

Harriet did not move from her position and did not acknowledge Dick's presence. "Nick, you appear to be a mechanic," Harriet said waving a hand at the overalls he was wearing, "how are you at cutting hair?"

Dick let out a whoop and clapped his hands. "We've got a live one," he started chuckling to himself, a good belly laugh. Nick thought Dick was trying a little too hard.

"I think I'd be pretty terrible if I'm going to be honest. But there's a pair of scissors upstairs if you're desperate," Nick replied.

Harriet slid of the desk, "good enough for me. Let's go."

Harriet walked out of the front reception, through the garage to the upstairs office area. Nick went to follow; however Dick caught his arm on the way out.

"Man, are we lucky to find that one. Did you see her kick that zombie ass out there! I thought Rhonda was tough. Jesus! And oh my god that rack! If it were just for the rack alone I'd be thanking my luck stars," Dick scratched his stubble, "if I'm going to die here, I'd rather it be with a beautiful woman like that. Fuck!"

"Yeah, she's pretty. Can you excuse me a second?" said Nick, as he looked towards where Harriet was heading.

"I'm mean. She's a little stuck up. Doesn't like a joke. Maybe a little bossy but…" Dick looked up at Harriet as she climbed the stairs. "Oh God, it gets better. That ass! Sweet Jesus."

"I get it Dick!" Nick said, a little too aggressively.

"Fine. Fine," his palms up as if surrendering.

Nick followed Harriet upstairs and found her rummaging aggressively through the drawers of the upstairs office.

"The scissors are here," said Nick. They were on the desk in front of her. She sat down heavily in the office chair in defeat.

"Thanks," she said, a little deflated.

"Are you okay?" he asked, Harriet couldn't help but laugh. A sad, kind of crazy little laugh.

"Where to start? The five people I killed today? The plane crash? Nearly being hauled out through a window by my hair? Or the asshole who despite all this, still thinks it's a great time to hit on me." She put her elbows on the table and sunk her head in her hands. Nick stood on the opposite side of the desk a little awkwardly. He didn't know if she wanted to be left alone… comforted? He certainly didn't want to be another asshole.

"I'm sorry about Dick. And everything else…"

"It's fine. It's… just been a fucker of a day." She looked up from her hands into Nick's face. He gave her a sad awkward smile.

"Do you really want me to cut your hair?" said Nick.

"Yes, I do. I don't need it to be good. Just short. I'm kicking myself for not doing this sooner."

Nick walked around to the back of her chair and stood behind her with the scissors in his right hand and smoothed his fingers through the remaining chunks of her hair with his left.

"How do you want it?"

A genuine laugh bubbled out of her chest, and she spun around in her chair, "should I show you my Pinterest board?" she grinned; Nick couldn't help but laugh also, and noticed she had a beautiful smile.

"I have to say, even if you told me what you wanted I couldn't do it." He instantly realised that what he said, sounded wrong, "I mean with hair… I mean I'm not good with hair." It was getting worse.

"I know what you mean Nick," she said, with a generous smile, "thanks for doing this for me," she turned her chair back, facing away from him. She took a deep breath and visibly relaxed her shoulders. He looked at her smooth neck and gently pulled a length of hair as he took his first cut.

"If I had a choice, I'd say I'd like to be able to grow it long again after the outbreak. So maybe short at the back and long at the front. Like a bob?"

"What's a bob?"

She let out a sad little laugh. "Don't worry, anything is fine."

"So… are you a local of Los Perdidos?" Nick asked, feeling a little like a real hairdresser now.

"No, I'm not actually. What about you?"

"Yeah, born and raised. Well not born. I'm not really sure where I was born. But I grew up in a bunch of foster homes here. When I was 18 I started working for Rhonda as a mechanic, right here in this garage."

"Foster homes huh? No Parents?"

"No," Nick paused for a beat. How had his attempt to know Harriet better ended in a conversation about himself? "I don't know who my parents are. If they're alive? Or care that I exist? I just kind of made my own way, you know? Do you have family?"

"I had a father. He's dead now though." Harriet left it at that and Nick decided tactfully to leave that line of enquiry. He thought he'd try another tact.

"You said you killed 5 people today," as soon as the words tumbled out of his mouth, he instantly regretted them.

"You picked up on that huh?" said Harriet warily.

"Sorry, you don't have to answer that."

"But you haven't asked me a question," she let that thought dangle for a while and Nick continued to cut her hair. Measuring lengths and trying to make neat cuts.

"There were the four that you witnessed. But there are so many bad people in Los Perdidos right now. Something about the outbreak brings out the worst in people," she took a deep breath and proceeded, "there was this guy in the Zen garden here at Ingleton. I thought it was someone in need of help, but I found this fucked up freak that had been killing survivors who came to the walled garden for sanctuary. Enough people have died already, you know? And this guy was killing more!" she paused again, gathering her thoughts, "it took a lot out of me to take him down. And his end was messed up," she exhaled deeply and fell silent.

Nick continued to cut her hair quietly, deciding on what best to say, "I'm sorry you had to do that. I didn't know things could get this bad this quickly".

She took another deep breath and proceeded cautiously, "what do _you_ think about what I've done?"

"What do you mean?" said Nick, genuinely curious.

She turned her head, nearly causing another chunk to be lost from her hair. "I saw the way you looked at me when I shot that plane survivor Nick. I never want anyone to look at me that way again," she turned back around and once again fell silent.

Nick smoothed another section of her hair to the right and kept cutting, "I wasn't looking at you _that_ way. I was just shocked at that person's horrible death," he paused again, gathering another section of hair to lengthen to the front, "I realise what you've been doing now. You're ending dying people's suffering. It took guts. You put yourself in jeopardy and drew attention to us by doing it. But I didn't want to see them die slowly, piece by piece. I wouldn't want to die that way. If it happens to me, I want someone like you to be there and end it for me."

Harriet took a short intake of breath and exhaled slowly again. She apparently didn't want to say any more about it. Nick's mind ticked over, connecting some loose threads in his mind, "is that why you thought I was going to kill you?" he said.

She turned her head again and her eyes were wet. "You weren't thinking about it?"

"Of course not! I would never do that," he exclaimed with shock. He took a risk and put his right hand on her shoulder. "I was only ever going to try to save you… I guess we don't know each other very well, huh?" Harriet smiled again and turned her head back facing away from Nick.

"I guess I'm used to seeing the ugly side of people. Sounds like you're not one of them Nick."

"I'd like to think so," Nick looked at his handy work, "I'm nearly done. Just hold still for a second. If you keep turning your head I'm going to really mess this up," he took the last few cuts and tried to dust the last few clippings from the back of her neck, "okay, I think that's it," he said, and he blew on the back of her neck to get the last clinging snippets off her.

"Thanks… again. You know, for saving my life and being my barber," she stood up, tucked the office chair under its desk and turned around, "now honestly, how does it look?"

Nick appraised her hair. If he was going to be honest, it was not a great job. She now had an uneven cut, which was short at the back where he had sliced off a chunk at the base of her skull, and it tapered to a longer length at the front to frame her face. She still looked beautiful though. Vulnerable.

"I think you look beautiful," he said tactfully. He scratched the back of his neck and gave her another sheepish smile, "it's not the most even hair cut though. I'm afraid if I try to even it up, you'll end up bald."

Harriet chuckled and went to take the scissors from his hand. "You're alright," she said and let her hand rest on his. Nick froze, and had no idea what to say next.

"I got it you guys!" yelled Rhonda from downstairs, "a live broadcast is on! Come quick!"

Harriet and Nick both broke off their contact and jogged to the garage downstairs. They all needed to know what was happening. They had to make a plan.

As they made their way downstairs, Rhonda and Dick were standing side by side looking up at the television. They could hear a stern man's voice from the television, speaking calmly.

"The Los Perdidos outbreak is in the process of being contained. Although we can only speculate at this time as to how the outbreak occurred, we can only assume an infected illegal turned and started the outbreak. This is a reminder, that all infected person's must be registered and chipped to receive their regular zombrex administration. Chipping is the law.

"Action has been taken to contain the spread. The city is in lockdown, and all survivors are being urged to make their way to the safety of the quarantine zones to be chipped and evacuated. The situation however, is dire. As such the president, before her disappearance in Los Perdidos, had instigated Marshall law. In six days, a large incendiary bomb will wipe out the town to contain the spread—" The man continued to speak platitudes, however the group had heard enough.

"Holy FUCK!" said Rhonda, "a bomb! Jesus, we gotta get out of this town, and fast!"

"This is bullshit! The last quarantine zone we were at was a complete bust!" said Harriet.

"I don't see what kinda choice we have," said the ever pragmatic Dick.

"There is no point trying another quarantine zone. What they are saying is absolute crap. And look at that crazy bitch standing next to him! Are we going to trust her?" Harriet was pointing back to the screen at a female police sergeant standing next to general Hemlock at the conference. She was wearing a white midriff button down shirt, exposing significant cleavage with an unnecessary skinny tie and police cap.

"I don't see what else we can do? We have to try something. If we can't get out of here in 6 days, we are going to die anyway," Nick stated with some defeat, "its just tough getting around in this city. Going on foot isn't an option, but as we have all experienced, driving isn't that safe either."

Rhonda walked away from the group and looked around at her garage.

"We have these vehicles. Surely we can do something," she said pointing towards a van and an SUV she had been restoring.

"Or we can drive both," said Nick, suddenly getting an idea, "we can combine the two vehicles, making them stronger. We need something that's strong, has speed and can keep out the clingers."

"This is our best shot, honey," said Rhonda, advancing towards Nick with a blowtorch, "see what you can do."

Nick took the blowtorch and looked at the two vehicles as ideas started to germinate. He was thinking of stripping one for parts to reinforce and create a bar roll at the front to plough through herds. Nick got to work on his first combo vehicle, stripping, welding and making a brand new type of machine. After an hour or so of work, he rolled out from under the "Turret Rig" (as he called it), and he couldn't help but be proud of his work.

"Nice!" said Harriet. Nick was most proud when he saw what he thought was admiration on her face, "you're a useful one to keep around you know," Harriet said looking directly at him.

"Thanks," Nick said, trying to be modest as he studied the floor.

"Let's go, it's going to get dark soon and we need to get the fuck out of here," said Dick.

Harriet looked unconvinced. She hesitated as Rhonda and Dick jumped in the rig. Nick walked over to where she stood.

"Are you coming? Because I'm not going to go without you."

Harriet looked around the garage. "You know this is a bad idea right? There is no way they are just going to let us out of here."

"I think you might be right. But we have to try. We don't have many options," he implored.

"I'll come, but the main reason why I'm here is I want to keep people safe. If we see any survivors or anyone who could use our help on the way, we do it."

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Are you in?" said Nick.

"All the way," she said, "do you have a weapon?"

"I still have my sledge saw," Nick said striding to his workbench where he last left it. He held his proud new combo weapon in his right hand as if to show it off.

"I can see now this whole handyman thing really works for you," said Harriet, waving a finger up and down at his stance as she spoke, "It's a good look."

Nick made a cheesy grin, stood with his legs shoulder width apart and swung his sledge saw over his shoulder. Harriet busted out laughing as Dick leant out the window and yelled, "Hurry the fuck up! It's 3 hours til dark," Nick and Harriet exchanged a mischievous glance as they jogged to the car.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The new Turret Rig was a great improvement for getting around Los Perdidos. It ploughed through herds, hurling them over the top of the vehicle rather than underneath them, and the sides were reinforced to keep out the clingers. Rhonda and Nick knew the city; so finding their way to Production Bridge was easy enough.

On the freeway, they passed a horrific looking billboard of a particularly nasty looking zombie. The flesh had been torn away from his mouth, exposing a full set of teeth, and the sign read, "Don't turn. Get chipped." Nick noticed for the first time, that the government had made a lot of effort to scare people into being chipped since the previous zombie outbreaks.

At the end of the freeway, a barricade prevented them from driving the whole way to the evacuation site. However, they found the zombies light on the ground, and they made their way without incident. As they approached the quarantine station, the group slowed and took in their surroundings. Something wasn't right. There were no personnel, no army presence, just a bunch of abandoned army trucks and passenger cars. It was very quiet.

"I don't believe what I'm seeing," said Rhonda, as she looked for a way in.

"This definitely doesn't look right," said Dick, as he searched the surrounding area and found himself a shotgun, "should we still head in?"

"I vote no," said Harriet, as she eyed off the entry gate, "this exit will be blocked too and if a pack comes at us, we'll be surrounded."

"We have to try. We've _got_ to get out of this city," said Nick, he was determined to get out, "everyone find the best weapon you can, and we'll see what we're up against."

Rhonda and Harriet found assault rifles, Nick seemed too pleased with his sledge saw to let it go.

"Okay, let's go," Rhonda was eager to find a way out too.

As they entered through an opening in the chain link fence, they saw a large open paved area with a fire pit in the centre and various cars strewn across the vicinity. The exit was blocked, as Harriet said, and their only way out was on foot as they came in. Nick was still optimistic despite the evidence; he walked over to the booth, which was stationed by a man in full army gear.

"Hello, we're here for the evac—" before he had finished his sentence, the guard slowly turned around with a two-foot long machete coming out of his chest. It was definitely a zombie.

"Jesus," said Nick, and then the pandemonium started. Motorcycle engines roared to life and close to a dozen bikers rode out into the arena. They circled the four of them quicker than they expected. A man stood on top of a large overturned rig and was pointing a handgun at the group below. He was wearing cargo pants, and studded belt with bare chest. To finish the look, he had blue paint on his face and chest, with a severe Mohawk.

"Well looky here boys! These ones look like fun!" said the man on top of the truck, whiles taking a large swig of whisky he was holding in his other hand. Two of the bikers hopped of their bikes and pulled Rhonda away from the group. Nick advanced on them, however a Molotov cocktail was thrown in his path, exploding into flames, to block his rescue.

"Let's take this one downstairs for a little fun!" said one.

"Hell yeah! Grab the other one too. She looks sweeeeeet."

Nick was planning his next move. They were outnumbered by at least two to one. As he looked to see what Harriet was planning he noticed she was standing motionless and impassive. _She's frozen. We're fucked. I'm going to have to kill them all myself._

As another two bikers went to grab for Harriet, the tables turned. As they got into range, she hit the ground and swept her leg in a wide arc along the pavement, tripping both of the bikers. Whiles they were on the floor, she stomped one in the face braking his skull, jaw and teeth. She drew her gun, and shot the other in the head whiles he was still on the ground. It was only then that Nick and Dick acted. Dick took aim at the man on the truck and fired off three shots. The first was a clear miss, however the second and third hit their target. He fell off the back of the truck in a spray of blood and made a sickening thud as he hit the ground. Nick jumped over the flames towards Rhonda and drove his sledge saw from above right through the skull of one of her captors.

The second man was on him in an instant, and had him in a choke hold. Nick couldn't breathe, and was struck by pure panic. _That's it. I'm done._ He struggled to roll his attacker forward and over the top of him with no success. He was weak and loosing consciousness. He heard several loud pops, dropped to the ground and started gasping for breath. When he turned around, he saw Rhonda standing over him with her assault rifle.

The other five bikers had wasted no time, and had hopped on their motorcycles. _They're fleeing_ Nick thought, before he realised they were once again circling their group. The bikers began flinging Molotov's at them, however mercifully their aim was terrible from their current distance. _Thank God, they're probably drunk. Where's Harriet?_

A muscle car screeched to an abrupt stop next to Rhonda, Nick and Dick and the passenger side door flung open.

"Hop in!" Harriet said, and they all piled in as quickly as possible. This was just in time, as no sooner than Harriet put the car in first and sped off, another Molotov hit the back of their car, with minimal damage.

"Fuck! They've blocked us in!" said Harriet as she drove back towards the exit. They had parked a large van across the fence. "Who are these sick freaks?! Any ideas?"

"We have to kill them all. Run them over darlin'!" said Dick as he gripped the sides of the back seat, bracing himself for the ride ahead.

Harriet manoeuvred the car with incredible skill. She punched it towards the first biker who was facing them head on. He hurled another Molotov at the car and missed, not accounting for their speed. The biker swerved to his right to avoid being hit, however Harriet anticipated him and headed left whiles accelerating. She ran him, and the bike over. As she was now facing a dead end, she reversed back over him for good measure. Nick could see what remained of the biker through the front windscreen. His ribs and both legs were broken, and he was lying on his back coughing up large amounts of blood. _He won't bother us anymore. One down… four to go._

"We've got two behind us!" yelled Rhonda, as she bashed out the back windscreen with the butt of her assault rifle. Dick and Rhonda fired towards them whiles Harriet reversed. It was hard to say who made the shot, but one biker fell backwards off his bike bleeding copiously from his torso. The other was wounded and rode away, so Harriet turned the car around to pursued him. He was an easy target as he was having trouble steering. The car clipped his back wheel as he tried to swerve left and he came off his bike hard, headfirst. This time, there was no need for Harriet to run him over again. He lay motionless on the ground with a cracked and bleeding skull. _Almost makes me feel sorry for him,_ thought Nick, but there was no time for further contemplation however, as a Molotov hit them squarely in the bonnet. Nick could feel the heat from the flames as Harriet accelerated towards the thrower. This time he swerved and the car missed.

"I can't see a fucking thing!" screamed Harriet in frustration. The flames started to die down, but the car was in bad shape. The bonnet was smoking heavily, and one of the front tyres must have been damaged as the car was having trouble turning. There was still one biker in front of them and to their left, and another pursuing them from behind. Harriet tried to circle around the fire pit, however the muscle car wasn't responding. She pulled up the hand break and spun a sharp left, having one biker square in her sights. He was completely taken aback by the cars sharp change in direction. She accelerated towards him, knocking him off his bike and he went flying into the windscreen. Meanwhile Rhonda and Dick continued to fire out the back window at the last biker.

"Shit, I'm out!" said Dick, Rhonda continued to spray bullets.

The biker on the front windshield had balls. He clung on the frame and broke through the windshield with his head, grinning at Nick and Harriet.

"Heeeeeere's Johnny!" said the biker as he tried to climb in through the front windshield. Nick took aim with the saw end of his weapon and sliced his head open spraying blood all over the front passengers.

"The last one's bike is down, but he's still alive and kicking," said Rhonda. The car's engine cut and finally gave out so the four of them hopped out before the engine caught fire. Nick could see the last biker striding towards them to make his final stand, however he must have been the only one who saw him coming. He threw a Molotov towards them, and it was heading straight for Harriet.

"Down!" yelled Nick as he dove towards Harriet to knock her out of the way. The Molotov barely missed her and Nick landed on top of Harriet hard. Now that the biker had given away his position, he was vulnerable. Rhonda opened fire with her assault rifle and he fell to the ground, his chest riddled with bullets.

When the fray was over, Nick was lying squarely on top of Harriet with his legs on either side of her. His body was pressed against hers, and the moment would have been called intimate if it wasn't for the look of pain and distress on Harriet's face. He quickly rolled off her to the left and put his hand on her torso.

"Are you okay? Did I hurt you?" said Nick, as Harriet struggled for breath, "oh God, have I broken something?"

Harriet felt her ribs as if doing a self-diagnostic, "nothings broken," she wheezed a breath in, "I'm just winded."

Just then a roller shutter flung open and a terrifying engine roared to life. Nick jumped up from the ground to get a better look. He saw before him a monstrous hybrid between a motorcycle, flame thrower and a steamroller. The rider was dressed like the other bikers, except for his leather jacket and strange face paint. He appeared to be their leader.

"What have you done to my boys!" he screamed, from what can only be described as a Rollerhawg. "I'm going to kill all of you! You're all dead!" he hollered. He accelerated towards the group at great pace ready to flatten them all. Rhonda opened fire, however the large steamroller on the front shielded the bullets and then she was out.

"Shit!" said Rhonda.

Nick pulled Harriet to her feet and took her hand.

"Run!" Nick yelled, as he made for the relative safety of a nearby concrete pillar. _At least he won't be able to run us over there._ Rhonda and Dick saw the Concrete structure too and made a mad dash for it. Harriet was slower than usual after being winded, but kept up with Nick.

The Rollerhawg changed direction to pursue the group, and was bearing down on them. Nick could feel the heat from the flames issuing forth from the vehicle. Rhonda and Dick were behind the pillar now and calling out to Nick and Harriet in distress.

"Run, God damn it! Run!" urged Dick.

"Come on honey, faster!" said Rhonda.

As the large concrete pillar was within reach, this time it was Harriet's turn to hurl Nick to the ground. She dropped her right shoulder and pushed Nick to the far right as she made a dive to where Rhonda and Dick were standing.

The rollerhawg slammed into the pillar, did a wheel spin as it reversed and sped off in the other direction.

"Is everyone okay?" said Nick, from the ground.

"So far so good, but what now? We have no weapons and we're trapped here," said Dick.

"Harry still has her gun," said Nick.

"It's next to useless against that thing," said Rhonda. Harriet was recovering slowly, but the run had really taken it out of her. She slowly stood to her feet and drew her gun, "let's see if there is anything around here we can use."

"Yeah, sure. Ah…." Nick jogged around the area and found the gang's supply of Molotov's. There was also a supply truck nearby, and the space looked to be a vantage point that they had used to taunt their victims, "this should work," he said and quickly handed them around, "I don't suppose anyone has a match?" Harriet was still bent double, however retrieved a zip lighter from her pants pocket.

The gang leader had circled the fire pit in the centre of the arena and was roaring back towards the group, flames pouring forth. It was really quite intimidating. The gang leader tried to get an angle so that he could steamroll them, but was unsuccessful. He roared past the pillar and hit the wall behind them. Before he could reverse the group was on him. Dick's Molotov hit him squarely in the back, whiles the others landed harmlessly on the Rollerhawg. The gang leader howled with rage as he patted down the jacket to extinguish the flames. Nick wasn't a big thinker, but he could act quickly. He ran towards the gang leader on his Rollerhawg, jumped on to his vehicle and grabbed him by the back of his head. He proceeded to beat the living shit out of him. He smashed his head against the handlebars several times and punched him repeatedly in the stomach. The gang leader recovered momentarily, threw Nick off by cracking him in the jaw with an elbow, and started to put the hog in reverse.

The gang leader started as he noticed a small still figure to his left. It was Harriet, with a gun, pointed directly at his face. Without a moment's hesitation, she pulled the trigger, and then it was truly over.

Harriet bent over double again and continued to breathe in short sharp breaths.

"Easily darlin', I've been punched in the stomach plenty o' times. The trick is to slow your breathing and to try to relax. Sit on the ground and hold your knees, and try to take deep breaths from you belly," said Dick, rather helpfully. Harriet followed his instructions and waited for her diaphragm to relax.

The group fell quiet as they recovered. They stayed like this for some time. Nick sat on the ground with his head in his hands, and Rhonda approached him gently.

"Are you okay honey?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm just… I never killed anyone before," said Nick.

"Neither have I honey, but I don't feel bad. Not one bit. It was either them or us," Rhonda knelt on the ground beside Nick, "you're like my family Nick. I never want to see anything bad happen to you. I'd have killed 50 more of those _bastards_ if they tried to hurt you."

Nick looked up for the first time since it was all over, and smiled at his friend. He felt reassured. _Them or us._

"Thanks Rhonda. You're right of course, it's just… messed up. What's wrong with these people! The outbreak only happened, what? Three days ago? And these assholes are already killing people for fun! And when they went to haul you and Harriet away I—" Nick broke off and put his head back in his hands. _It didn't happen. I can't think about that._

Harriet rose slowly from the ground; "if we didn't kill them they would have just done this to someone else. And they might not have been as bad ass as we are."

Dick grinned, "Hell yeah!" he held his open palm up to Harriet, who after a small pause, gave him a reluctant high five. He then rearranged his face into a more serious expression.

"We need to keep moving. It will be dark in an hour, and these zombies get crazy aggressive at night."

"Yeah," said Nick, as he stood up from the ground, "you're right, let's get back to the garage."

"And then what?" asked Rhonda, with a sad look in her eyes.

"I don't know, but we'll figure out something. We're survivors. We are going to make it," said Nick, ever the optimist.

"Well that's settled. We can use that steam roller bike to crash through the gates," said Dick, "can I do it? I'm dying to give that thing a try."

"uh ah," said Rhonda waving her finger, to indicate a big no to Dick, "I killed the most of those bastards next to Harry here, so I think I can have the honour."

"Well, we can stand here bickering, but there are two seats on this beast. We can both have a go. And because I'm feeling chivalrous, I'll let you drive," said Dick, as he bowed slightly and indicated to the Rollerhawg with both hands. Rhonda rolled her eyes and walked over to the hog.

"Hey Nick," said Harriet as she jogged over to him, "thanks for that, back there."

"Are you kidding me? I thought I had punctured your lung! I was so worried. I'm really sorry," he took a small risk, considering the events of the day, and put his arm around her shoulder as they walked towards the exit. Rhonda and Dick had the hog moving and were hurtling towards the fence with abandon. Harriet threaded her arm around his waist as they walked on. _Maybe she still needs some help walking_ thought Nick.

"No, it saved me. It had to be done," said Harriet.

"You were amazing back there. How did you learn to fight like that?" He left a small pause when she didn't respond, "and drive like that?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same question. I thought you were going to kill that last guy with your bare hands."

Once again, Nick got the feeling that his questions were evaded.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The group moved the van that was blocking their exit. Using the RollerHawg, the fences busted open no problem.

"That's a hell of a machine!" said Rhonda, as she hopped off the bike, "let's do another scavenge and get some more weapons…. and food," she said, as she rubbed her empty stomach. The abandoned army vans still had significant supplies. Everyone in the group got some rations, and ate them gratefully. Harriet found some more clips for her handgun, and added to her collection an elegant sword, which she strapped to her weapons holder on her back. Nick picked up his sledge saw on the way out, loathe to part with it, and picked up an assault riffle, which had a handy strap so he could sling it across his chest. Rhonda and Dick both picked up assault rifles this time.

"More ammo, you know?" said Dick.

As the group headed back towards their Turret Rig, two to three shots fired in their direction in quick succession. They all ducked for cover behind a parked vehicle. Nick ventured a look at their assailant and saw a man with light hair, crew cut and an oversized belly in army gear, shaking as he held his weapon at them.

"Diego! Diego!" said Nick in a loud yet soothing voice. Their assailant lowered his weapon in recognition, however still looked wary.

Nick stood up slowly with his hands in the air. "Yo soy Nick." He took a few steps away from the car and smiled at the man with the gun.

"Jesus! Nick! I'm so sorry man!" said Diego, as he ran towards Nick, and gave him a big bear hug. "I nearly shot you, I'm so sorry!"

"Who's this?" said Harriet, the second to venture out from the safety of the car.

"This is Diego," said Nick, "we were in a bunch of the same foster homes together growing up."

"Hi Diego. I'm Harriet, but you can call me Harry if you like. This is Dick and Rhonda." They both slowly rose from cover with their hands in clear sight. Everyone was still a little nervous around this new guy.

"I'm so glad I found you Nick! I heard shots, and shouting from here and I thought I'd come and check things out. I need your help," said Diego, "you can fix things right? I got a plane. It's in the shipping warehouse by the docks, but it's not working. It needs parts or something. And Fuel."

"How did you get a plane?" asked Harriet.

Diego sighed and looked to the ground, "we were supposed to get it ready for the president. But then Special Ops stormed our safe area. It was chaos. People were being killed, the dead got in and they took her! I just ran you know. Jesus! She was counting on us and I just ran!"

"I hate to interrupt…" said Dick, "But did y'all notice that you guys have almost the exact same tattoo on your neck?"

"Yeah," said Nick, instinctively rubbing his number 12 tattoo behind his right ear. "We've had them ever since we can remember. Do you think we can get the plane running, Diego?"

"I've still got the key to the plane," said Diego, "here, see?" He fumbled in his pants pocket with shaking hands, and withdrew a small set of keys, promptly dropping them on the pavement. He smacked his hand to his forehead in reprimand and looked as though he was going to cry.

Nick bent down to pick them up for him, and a zombie who was previously lying motionless on the ground underneath a nearby car, grabbed his arm.

"NICK!" screamed Harriet, as she reached for her sword, but she was too late. The zombie bit down on his hand as Nick screamed. Before it had a chance to take an actually chunk, Harriet leapt forward and sliced through it's head.

"Fuck! Fuck!" said Nick, as he looked at his right hand. He had a serious bite wound, which would normally heal just fine, except that a zombie had given it to him.

"It's been nice knowing you pal," said Dick, as he backed away from Nick. Harriet grabbed his hand to inspect the wound, not believing what she saw.

"Nick," said Rhonda, in a slow calm voice. "You've only got a few hours before you're going to turn. You need Zombrex. NOW."

"Where am I going to find it?" said Nick, trying not to panic.

"Annie will have some. If not her, some of her illegal friends will have it. We can't get you chipped to dose you Zombrex, but the illegals should have a stash. Hell! They chose not to get chipped; so I'm guessing they must have a truckload somewhere to get by or else they would have turned too," what Rhonda said sounded sensible. _Maybe I'm not dead yet._

"How long did you say I had?" Nick asked.

"A few hours is generous," said Harriet, as she looked at the ground. I've never seen anyone last 2 hours. She looked at Nick; "we need to get you some Zombrex as soon as possible. At least within the hour to be relatively safe."

"The illegals have safe zones. They mark them with a symbol like this." She drew on a dusty car window, the shape of a circle with two breaks in it and two short lines coming off either side at a diagonal. "The symbols are drawn in red. Find one and you'll find Annie. We'll go to the plane with Diego and work on getting it fixed up. You meet us there." She walked towards Nick, "you're strong honey. I know you can do this. I'm not giving up on you."

"Okay. I can do this," said Nick, "go and fix the plane, and I'll see you soon."

They jogged towards the barricade, and the Turret Rig without Nick. _I don't think I'm going to see them again. What if I turn?_ It was the closest Nick had ever been to despair. His shoulders slumped as he gathered himself for the road ahead.

Tentative hands reached for his hand and shoulder. "I'll stay," said Harriet, "I'm not going to leave you." _Thank god she's still here._

"You don't have to stay. It's too dangerous, and I might not make it," said Nick looking away from Harry. She let go of his hand and turned his face towards hers.

"You are. I'll make sure you do," Nick closed his eyes and enjoyed her warm hand on his cheek. He didn't want her to move but they were on a clock.

"First we need to disinfect the wound, bandage it up and then we'll use the roller bike thing to break through the barricade," said Harriet, getting down to business.

"And then, it's just a simple matter of riding around town until we find a weird symbol, which will hopefully lead me to some Zombrex," said Nick, using sarcasm, which was a rarity for him.

"I think I know a place. It's not over yet," she let go of him and took off her backpack. She took out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some gauze.

"This is going to sting like a mother fucker," she said as she unscrewed the cap. She took his wounded hand in her left and poured a good measure of the liquid on to the bite wound. Nick gritted his teeth but willed himself not to let out a sound. Despite his dire circumstances, he still wanted to look brave in front of Harriet.

"And now for a bandage," she gently wrapped his hand with the bandages. Nick's hand hurt. Really hurt. But he still felt her soft hands as they skilfully bound the wound. She finished off her bandaging with a little clip to keep it all in place.

If it were any other situation, Nick would have tried to kiss her. He desperately wanted to. He wanted to pull her to him and feel her. _Hell! I might die within the hour. And she's just so… nice._

But now was definitely not the time. A few strays had started to wonder over, drawn by the commotion. Harriet hesitated for half a second.

"We've got to go. Again. Why do we always need to keep saying that? Can't we catch a fucking break?" she said with frustration.

"Come on Harry, let's get this over with," said Nick as he held her hand once again and walked quickly towards the RollerHawg.

"I'll drive, you're wounded," said Harriet, quick and too the point.

She swiftly hopped up, straddled the RollerHawg, and started the engine. Nick followed suit, sitting behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist, feeling a little like an accessory. To his embarrassment, the close proximity and the throbbing of the bike started to get him excited. _Not now. Wrong time!_ He thought. _God I hope she can't feel this._ The machine shuddered as she hit the throttle and the RollerHawg ploughed through the barrier.

The RollerHawg was extremely manoeuvrable, and wove its way towards their destination in Sunset Hills. They took a right at the junction before the freeway, and after a short drive they started to hear the screams. A couple were clinging on to each other on top of an overturned truck, surrounded by the dead. She was crying hysterically and the other survivor was holding on to her tightly. He had a baseball bat, and shovel by his side which they had apparently abandoned in their hopelessness.

"We've got to do something," said Nick, speaking loudly in her ear as they roared along.

"Shit! Why now!?" said Harriet, as she steered towards the group of zombies clawing at the overturned vehicle. She headed to the right of the herd and took a sharp left to mow through the zombies. Only five or so remained, shambling towards the commotion. Nick and Harriet hopped off the hog and got to work. Nick swung the sledge end of his weapon at the head of the first approaching zombie. It was knocked to the ground, dead from the head wound. The second was coming up quick and Nick switched to the saw end coming down on the head and slicing through its skull. It lay motionless on the ground and Nick needed to put his foot on its torso to get enough leverage to pull his weapon out.

Harriet was walking towards him with her sword withdrawn, having already taken care of the other three. _Jesus, she must be even better with a sword._ He thought.

"Hey! Hey! Thanks! Oh my god, you saved our lives! Seriously, thank you so much!" said the guy on top of the van. The woman had picked up the shovel, recovering quickly from her despair, taking advantage of her vantage point and looking around the street for her next move.

"No problem," said Harriet, "Nick, we've got to go. It's been 15 minutes already. I estimate you've got another 45 before you turn, and we've still got another 5-10 minute drive down the road until we get to the safe house at Sunset Hills."

"Safe House! Can you take us? We are so screwed. We have no food, no place safe to rest. We're done for, unless we can get somewhere tonight," said the man. The sun was setting and the mood of the town was changing. The eyes of the last few zombies they had killed had started to glow a disturbing red and they seemed… quicker… hungrier some how.

"I'm sorry, we don't have time," said Harriet, "hold up in one of these buildings until morning, then you can scavenge for food."

"It's not just the dead. It's the army," said the woman, speaking for the first time. "I was so relieved when they came through our neighbourhood, I thought we were saved. But then they started shooting survivors. At first I thought it was just the dead or bitten, but it wasn't. Just people," she paused, "we hid in the crawl space of our roof until they left."

"What?" said Nick, "that can't be right. Why would they do that?"

"It's doesn't sound completely crazy," said Harriet, to Nick privately, "something bad is going down here. One of those Z's I downed before had a zombrex chip in it. They're not working anymore. Only the government has enough power to organise something like that."

Nick's mind was racing. Albeit slowly. He couldn't comprehend how or why this could happen. "If this is true we have to help them out of here. They're sitting ducks," he said to Harriet in a quiet voice.

"We can't fit them on the hog, and you might turn before we reach the safe house on foot. I said I wanted to save people, but if we do this, I'll probably loose you." Harriet sounded determined and practical, not sweet.

"We have to take a chance. I can't live with myself if we leave them," _I can't believe I actually mean this._

"Well luckily for you, you probably won't have to," said Harriet dryly. She drew herself closer to Nick, which was confusing given the context. She put her right hand to his forehead with the back of her hand, and felt his neck underneath his jaw with her left. Nick stood motionless and gradually realised she was assessing for signs of infection.

"You don't have a fever, and your glands aren't swollen. Most people are curled up in a ball in pain by this stage," she gave him that look again, the same one as when they first met after the plane crash, as if trying to sum him up. But there was something else. Confusion?

"Then we help?" said Nick quietly.

"Okay. But that's it. Seriously. Anyone else, we come back for." Harriet walked over to the truck. "Down you come. We'll go on foot."

The woman promptly sat on the edge of the truck and jumped down. It was only now Nick noticed that she was very well dressed underneath the tears and the blood splatter. She was wearing a neat black pencil skirt with silk blouse, pearl earrings and a large diamond engagement ring. The man followed her, clutching his bat; he was wearing previously cream chinos and a collared shirt with tan loafers. You would have said they were an attractive couple, if it wasn't for the circumstances.

"I'm Greg," he said, "and this is Alice."

"Hello," she said, rather politely.

"I'm Nick, and this is Harry."

"It's about 30 minutes on foot," said Harriet, in the voice of a skilled organiser, "we keep quiet, and keep off the streets where possible. We'll head up the stairs over there and walk along the upper walkway until it ends. We don't have much time. Nick's been bitten and he needs some Zombrex."

"Oh my God!" said Alice as she looked at his hand. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm feeling okay for now. But we have to hurry," said Nick, and as if realising his own urgency, he jogged towards the staircase leading to the outdoor walkway above.

There were only a few stragglers above and Harriet took care of most of them. Nick was most surprised by Alice's angry revenge on the zombies she encountered. As one came towards her partner Greg, she swung her shovel down on it with all her might, killing it instantly. _Damn._ Thought Nick. The above ground walkway eventually ended and they made their way through the various offices and shopfronts to the ground.

"Damn it," said Harriet, as she looked at her watch. "That took another 15 minutes," she eyed Nick again, "how are you feeling?"

"Good. I guess," said Nick, "you know… considering," Nick turned his attention to the journey in front, "there's a car up ahead we could use. If there are no keys, I could try to hot-wire it?" Nick said helpfully, although he didn't have a kit and it would take some time. There were zombies on the street below and they would break in before he had a chance to get it started.

"We'll have to hope some good Samaritan left they keys in the ignition," said Harriet. It was a big risk.

"Yep, we're all good," said Greg, Nick looked back at him in astonishment. Greg had retrieved a pair of small binoculars from his chino pants and was squinting into them, directing his gaze at the car below, "I can see something sparkly dangling from the ignition and the doors ajar."

All three of them turned to Greg completely wordless. "What?" said Greg, "be prepared!... I used to use them to watch the birds from our backyard…" he said, as his voice trailed off and he fell silent.

"This is good. Let's make our way to the car. I'll drive, Nick, you're good with passenger side? And Greg and Alice in the back. Make sure to fight off the clingers," said Harriet with her usual brevity.

"What are clingers?" said Alice, however she would have to find out soon enough. The group ran at the car, each using their weapons to hack through any zombies that blocked their path. It was just about full dark, so they were getting nastier, however Nick marvelled at the group and how they all worked together. No one needed saving, or slowed them down. Harriet slid across the hood to the driver's side, looking fucking cool, Greg was very fast and side stepped zombies whiles hitting them in the knees to take them down. Alice was aggressive, but not always successful in her offensive, she was the last in the car, but easily hopped into the passenger side back seat, as the engine roared to life and took off. She leaned forward and sensibly pressed the lock on Nick's passenger side door, activating the central locking, and did up her belt.

"Smart," said Nick, to Alice as she proudly smiled at her husband, who was looking at her with new admiration. Harriet was a mad driver. She knew just how to avoid the packs, and make sharp turns without slowing down. There was an extremely tense moment when Harriet had to drive through a large group of zombies. They smashed the windshield as they rolled over the top, and several went under the wheels. It was probably only a few seconds, but Nick's heart stopped as the wheels spun over the bodies below them. A group of zombies lunged at the car from all angles, hammering dangerously on the windows as they began to crack the glass. Harriet began to reverse, and the wheels spun again.

"Fuuuuuuck it!" she screamed, "come on!" and as if in response to her berating, the wheels gained traction and reversed off the bodies. She turned to the right, as she put the car back into first and they made off with only a few clingers on the car. One broke in on Alice's side, but it was a mistake on its part, as she furiously threw it out with her bare hands.

"Oh…" said Alice, out of breath, "clingers."

Harriet pulled up outside what looked to be a kind of warehouse, with the strange red symbol on it. They all jumped out, and made their way up a small set of outdoor stairs towards the entrance. Greg closed the door behind them and had a furtive look at the room they now found themselves in.

"What do you want?" said a good looking woman, who looked to be in her early 30's, standing behind a mesh window on the other side of the room they were standing in. She was pointing a handgun at the group, but Nick didn't think she looked… mean. If she were, she would have shot them already.

"I've been bitten and I need Zombrex, and quick. It's been…" he turned to Harriet for support.

"Forty minutes," said Harriet looking at her watch.

"Forty minutes since I was bitten, so I don't have long," Nick left it at that, and hoped she would help.

"You don't look too bad to me," said the new stranger eyeing him with a sly smile. "How do I know I can trust you?" said the girl behind the window. Thankfully, Nick knew that people who asked, "How do I know I can trust you? _"_ were usually about to trust you. Besides, everyone here in the illegal safe house knew what it was like to be bitten, and probably had some stranger save their life at some point.

"I'm a friend of a girl who I think might be here with you. Her name is Annie. She has blonde hair, black tips, and big blue eyes. Last time I saw her she was wearing a hoodie, and ah…" he paused indicating to his forearms, "purple and black striped gloves to here," he said pointing at his elbows.

The woman looked at the group, weighing up her decision. "Wait here," she said, and walked off.

"Do you think she'll help us?" said Greg.

"I hope so," said Harriet, she looked at Nick again for a long time, and for the first time, he felt self-conscious. He hadn't showered in 4 days and his short dark hair was messy, and probably greasy. He had never really been able to get a good read on if he was good looking or not. He was tall with a medium build and muscles. He never went to the gym or did push ups, but his work was active enough and that seemed to have kept him from developing any fat. He got attention from girls (he thought?) but routinely failed to accurately read signals and take things any further. After one of the female clients at Wrench O Rama talked about a new restaurant in town she liked, laughed at his jokes and touched his bicep unnecessarily; Rhonda told him that he lacked confidence. She might be right. He told the customer that he heard the restaurant had rats from a health inspector that came to the shop, and she should stay well clear of it.

Harriet felt his face for a temperature once again, "you look… fine," said Harriet slowly.

"How, umm… long… do people usually have in these types of situations," said Alice, with great tact.

"Usually people start getting a fever in the first 15 minutes, although that can take longer. It's painful, and they're weak. Within half an hour they can't move, can't speak, but are still themselves. Then they kind of go quiet for a while, and you think, maybe they'll fight through it," Harriet sounded sad, and was starring in the middle distance as if recalling a memory, "but that's when the person is really dying. The infection is taking over their brain—" She broke off her train of thought abruptly, "and then they just try to bite you."

"How do you know all this?" asked Greg.

"YouTube," said Harriet, rather quickly.

"You got all that from YouTube?" said Greg.

Annie appeared at the mesh window with the other woman standing close behind, "well hell. How did you two make it out of the diner?"

"We'll tell you all about it if you like, but could you let us in? It's kind of getting hairy out there," said Nick, as he looked at the door behind them, "and I really need some Zombrex," he held up his right hand with the bloody bandage.

"Shit," said Annie, "yeah sure, come in," she unlocked the door and Nick, Harriet, Greg and Alice were granted entrance to the safe zone. They walked through a courtyard fenced with high corrugated iron walls. _It looks secure._ They took the stairs up to the main outdoor area of the facility as they talked.

"How long has it been?" asked Annie.

"Nearly 50 minutes now," said Harriet, checking her watch once more. Annie quickly looked from Harriet to Nick, trying to size up the situation.

"I'm sorry Nick, but the news isn't good," and Annie genuinely looked sorry. "We're all dosed up here, and are out of Zombrex. Doug's on a supply run now to bring some back, but we don't know how long he's going to be. We keep some at our other safe houses, but they're overrun so we are mainly operating out of here."

Nick was fighting back the deflated feeling he had inside. He really thought this would be it. He'd get some Zombrex, and then could maybe have a good night's sleep. He looked around the courtyard and saw men and women busy at their work. A smaller woman wearing a light blue hoodie and white surgical mask over her mouth and nose; a well built man in jeans, black t-shirt and black soft cap. They all looked like they had a purpose.

Annie pulled out a walkie-talkie she had clipped to her hip, "Doug. Hey Doug! Do you copy?"

As Annie tried to get a hold of Doug, Harriet stood beside Nick and put her right hand on the small of his back. He was wearing a maroon t-shirt covered by his navy mechanics overalls, but could still feel her hand through the thick fabric. He bowed his head and put his left arm around Harry, gritting his teeth to fight back the sting of tears. _I'm royally fucked._ Thought Nick _. I don't want to die. I want to be right here._ He looked down to his left towards Harriet's beautiful face and saw tears starting in her deep purple eyes. _God. If she's given up, I'm really done for._ He turned to her, and gently held the back of her head with his right hand. She buried her face in his chest and he held her close whiles they waited.

Annie returned, and ignored their intimacy, "take this," said Annie, handing Nick a spare walkie-talkie. She made her voice gentler. "Doug's not going to be back for another couple of hours, so I'll call you on it if he thinks he can get back any sooner. In the meantime, your best shot is to go to the Ingleton motel. There's a safe zone there and there might be some Zombrex left. It's about a 15 minute drive," she paused, "good luck Nick."

Harriet kicked in to gear again, all mission, no fuss. It seemed she had a focus now. She grabbed his right forearm above his injured hand and pulled him towards the exit.

"By the way, they're staying here," she said, a little aggressively, indicating to Alice and Greg.

Without another word they ran outside towards the car, for a desperate race to Ingleton.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Nick and Harriet jumped into the car outside, and made their way to Ingleton. The streets were thick with zombies. It was night, and so their numbers seemed to triple. The car could take a few hits, but not packs of zombies. If the tyres got stuck on some dead bodies, they wouldn't be able to move, and Nick wasn't sure if they could fight their way out of that situation.

Up ahead, they both saw a blockade with a small wooden ramp running across it. There was no discussion about what to do. Nick took a page out of Alice's book, and put on his seat belt. Harriet punched it towards the jump, and the clunky sedan soared over the low barricade. Nick, as if in slow motion, took in a group of zombies below them that had crowded towards the barricade, drawn by the commotion.

The car landed hard, and Harriet braced herself with her arms against the wheel. She hit her head, however the impact must not have been too bad, as she continued to fly through the streets. They hit another freeway, and Harriet would drive to one side of the road, attracting the dead, and then fly around the outside of them to hit as few as possible. Regardless, the car was in bad shape. The front bonnet was badly dented and Nick could hear the engine was having some trouble.

"Hang on!" said Harriet, as she took a hard left to exit the freeway towards the motel.

"How do you know this place?" Nick asked.

"I've been exploring," she said as she pulled up abruptly outside a hole in the wall of the motel's side entrance.

They jumped out of the car, and ran through the opening, which was a small drop to the pavement below. Whoever had set this place up was smart. They had blocked the entrance of the outdoor stairwell, however had taken down the railing from the back of the steps on the first landing. Zombies were not climbers; they didn't seem to know how.

There were three zombies behind the stairwell that Harriet took care of with her sword. She stabbed the first one in the eye and kicked its carcass away to withdraw her sword. She swung down on the second in an arc and the sword lodged in its head. Nick held the zombie's body in place as she pulled out her sword and finished off the third.

"This way," she said, as she deftly hopped up on to the first floor landing. Nick instinctively held out his right hand to be pulled up, however noticing his bite wound, he thought better of it. She helped him up with his left hand, and they made their way to the hotel rooms above.

"This looks like it," said Nick, indicating to the motel room with the strange circle painted on the outside. They entered the room cautiously.

Harriet quietly entered the room with her knife drawn. She stalked her way to the entrance of the bathroom, the only area not visible to them, and peaked around the corner.

"We're good. I'll check if there are any more upstairs, you look for the Zombrex," and she shot out the front door again.

Nick stood near the doorway, and looked around for the best place to start. There was not much to look at. It was a single room with a weapons locker, a wardrobe, and a seedy looking bed. He walked to the bathroom to see if there was anything more promising looking in there. _There's got to be a first aid kit in the bathroom._

He saw a toilet, sink and shower, however no obvious looking first aid kit. There were a few supplies on the floor, shampoo and a packet of chips. _Nothing._

Nick walked back into the main room, and checked the metal weapons locker. _Fuck yes!_ He had found it! A first aid kit with needles and syringes. He rummaged through the kit, with his heart thumping. He took off the plastic insert tray of the kit and found one vial marked "Zombrex".

Nick picked up the vial in the kit and held it up to the light for a long time.

"There's nothing else up here. All the other rooms are locked and quiet. Whoever set this place up—" Harriet stopped abruptly, and looked at the vial Nick was holding up to the light.

"It's empty," she said, and paused as she looked around the room, "there's got to be more," she began looking through the cupboards nearby and pulling out clothes. Her search became more frantic and aggressive as she continued to come up with nothing.

"You'd think there'd be one FUCKING VIAL LEFT!" she cursed as she kicked the cupboard.

Nick stood motionless and gave Harriet a blank look. She stormed over to the weapons locker and pushed past Nick. She proceeded to decimate the first aid kit.

"There's none left Harriet. There was never a great chance anyw —"

"NO!" she screamed as she slammed the locker with the palm of her hand. She kicked the metal locker again and began to pound her fists against it.

"IT'S NOT… FUCKING… FAIR!" she screamed.

"Harry, Harry!" Nick said, as he grabbed her arms from behind to prevent her from damaging herself further. Harriet was in a rage, and made an attempt to throw him off, crossing her arms, grabbing both his hands, and using her body's momentum to slam him into the locker.

Her defence felt weak however, and Nick thought her heart wasn't really in it. She held his arms across her torso, still gripping his hands fiercely and broke down into sobs.

Nick had never felt so helpless. They stood there for some time, whiles Nick held her close and thought how he should react. _I don't feel anything._ He felt Harriet squeeze his hands, and her sobs subsided abruptly. She appeared to be collecting herself. Harriet squeezed his hand with the bite wound and waited.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's just… doesn't that hurt?"

"Huh?" said Nick, confused.

Harriet spun around and looked at his bandaged hand and back up at Nick's face. She flung off the clip holding his bandage in place, and began to unwrap his hand. _What is she doing?_ He thought. _It's no use._

She slowed her progression as she unwrapped the last few layers. When she pulled off the bandage, Nick could see the bite wound. It wasn't pretty. He saw dried blood, and a semi circle of teeth marks, which were thankfully not too deep. Harriet was still staring at it, and he looked closer to see what she was seeing. The broken skin had scabbed over in an attempt to knit itself back together. It really just looked like a regular bite, nothing special.

"It's healing," said Harriet, as she wiped away some of the dried blood. She brought his hand closer to her eyes to inspect, and gently touched the broken skin, "how does this feel?"

"Fine, I guess…" Nick said, "I mean, it feels better than it did when I was first bitten. It's not so bad," he said, trying to sound casual.

"There's no sign of infection," she looked up into Nick's face as she continued, "bites are how the parasites spread. The bite wound is usually ridden with the infection. It's swollen, full of pus, and the wounds usually open further because the body can't heal itself. But yours is… fine. It's healing normally…" she trailed off, "Nick, I don't know how this is possible, but you're not infected. You're not going to turn."

Nick did not know how to respond. He looked down at his bite wound and could see that it was indeed healing. He didn't feel sick… "how long has it been?" he asked.

"Well over an hour," she looked at her watch, "an hour and 10 minutes. Nick, this is impossible. Most people turn within the hour. I've seen someone last nearly two, but… they struggled through that last hour, they were in pain, their bite was splitting open and bleeding. You can't be infected Nick. Bites _never_ close," she started to smile, "you're going to be okay."

"But how is this possible?" Nick asked, can some people just be… I don't know, immune?"

"No, they can't. Not one recorded case yet. But we can't argue with this," she said, indicating to the bite.

Nick slowly started to comprehend what was happening. _I'm going to be okay._ He didn't know how he was not infected, but in that moment, he knew that what she was saying was true. He could feel it.

Nick's face broke out in a broad grin, and Harriet smiled back.

"Fuck!" Nick exclaimed, as he exhaled fully, the first time since he was bitten. "God damn! I can't believe my luck?"

"Neither can I! This is unbelievable," said Harriet.

"I should by a lottery ticket," said Nick, with his first bit of levity for some time.

Harriet looked at him seriously, "you see, that is where you are out of luck. I think all the stores are closed," she broke out in a mischievous smile.

"A joke?! Nice!" he said as he chuckled, "God! I need to laugh now."

"Well you deserve to celebrate," she said.

"Lucky I have just the thing," he reached into his pants pocket, and pulled out a little bottle of red wine he had taken from the plane crash site. He held it with both hands to show Harriet, as if he were a waiter displaying a bottle of fine wine."

"I thought that might come in handy," said Harriet. Nick unscrewed the cap and offered her the bottle.

Harriet raised the bottle to toast, "cheers!"

"To not dying," said Nick.

"To not dying," she said in echo, and drank half the bottle in one go. She offered Nick the other half and he finished it off. It wasn't a big bottle, only 8oz or so, but on an empty stomach it was enough to get a little buzz.

"oooo," said Nick as he winced to hold back his liquor, "that's… good?" he said warily.

"It's medicine," she said, with a glow starting to rise in her face, "do you know how I am going to celebrate?" she asked with a broad smile on her face, "by taking a shower."

Nick swallowed and paused, not wanting to ruin the moment.

"That's cool," he said, "good idea, I'll stand watch."

"Thank you," said Harriet. She walked to the wardrobe and collected a towel; "we should be relatively safe up here tonight. The dead can't get in, and we should be able to spot any humans coming if they try to make a move. There's a second exit from the balcony onto a truck outside, we can use it if we get stuck." She walked to the bathroom and shut the door, after a few seconds he could hear the water running.

 _I'm not dead._ Nick thought to himself as he paced the room, thinking of something useful to do. _Well at least I'm not going to die today._ The wine had gone straight to his head, and he felt foggy and relaxed. He walked to the weapons cupboard and pulled out a shotgun from the locker. He fumbled with the ammunition box spilling shells on the floor as he clumsily loaded the gun.

Nick took a quick sniff of his overalls whiles he was alone. _I stink._ He thought. _I desperately need a shower and some fresh clothes too._ He walked to the wardrobe and was surprised to see a good stock of clean clothes, underwear and towels. He selected a towel, some new underwear, a clean white t-shirt and some jeans in his size. _That won't look too bad._ He thought, and kicked off his shoes in the corner. He strode to the window to act as lookout for Harriet.

The street below was teeming with zombies. They shambled about aimlessly, some bashing on cars, others swaying as they stood in the same spot. _How did it come to this? How are there so many of them so quickly?_ He had never fully allowed himself to ask these questions, but once he had started, he couldn't stop. _Why aren't we being evacuated? Why are survivors being killed? Why are Special Ops making off with the president? Why the fuck am I immune to the virus?! And why the fuck do Diego and I have this weird fucking tattoo on our necks?!_

Nick's brain was firing at random, but he was starting to make some connections. He was immune to the virus, and he had an unknown past and a weird tattoo on him. Was he an experiment? These were dark thoughts he had had his whole life, which he had suppressed with great effort. He had always felt like a freak being an orphan, and never wanted to think about anything that might make him… freakier…

Just then, Harriet walked out of the bathroom in her towel.

"That was quick," said Nick.

"Thanks?" said Harriet, a little confused.

"I'm going to shower too, I'm filthy," said Nick. _Just stop talking!_ He walked to the bed and picked up his clean clothes and towel. Harriet was standing in front of the wardrobe selecting a new outfit to wear.

"It's all quiet out there," he said as he walked to the bathroom, "you know, for a zombie outbreak." Harriet was holding up a bra she had found, trying to assess if it would accommodate her ample breasts.

"Any sign of the living out there?" she asked.

Nick paused at the bathroom door to continue chatting, "no, no humans. Quite a few abandoned cars though. If we stay here tonight, and things clear a little in the morning, I bet we can get another one going. I don't think the car we drove here in will last much longer. It was making a strange sound on that last block, which usually indicates a vehicle is going to give up," he talked away as Harriet finalised her clothing selection. She went to unwrap her towel and paused, looking to Nick.

"Sorry!" he exclaimed, "I'll give you some privacy," he turned quickly, entered the bathroom and shut the door behind him. _Don't be a creepy perve Nick._ But he had to admit to himself, that he wanted to watch her undress. For half an instant, he thought maybe she wanted him to watch her too. _Nope, that's not what was happening their Nick. Just have a cold shower, and calm the fuck down._

Nick took off his overalls, and kicked them in a pile with Harriet's dirty clothes. As he pulled off his T-shirt, he realised just how sore his body was. He lifted up his left arm to get a look at his left side. He was developing significant bruising on his side and back from where he had landed on the freeway after checking out the first quarantine zone. His arms were sore too, from hacking away at zombies all day. He stretched his hands out in front and spread his shoulder blades apart to get a good stretch through his back and arm muscles. He slid off his underpants, a dorky pair of blue jocks with a white spanner on the front. As he looked at himself naked, he could see the toll the last few days had taken on him. His arms were covered in blood from his biceps down where his overall sleeves ended. His body was covered in minor bruises and abrasions, not to mention the bite mark on his right hand.

He turned the taps on in the shower to get the temperature right and the water felt amazing as it ran over his hand. He stepped underneath the stream of water and let out an involuntary groan of pleasure as the warm water started to wash away the sweat and grime from the last three days. He felt truly relaxed, with a combination of wine and warm water soothing his aching muscles. He picked up the shampoo and got to work on getting himself cleaned up. As his thoughts flickered over the events of the day, he landed on one thought he did not want to let go of. It was Harriet in her towel, with her wet short hair and large violet eyes starring at him. He imagined what it would have been like if she had let her towel drop to the floor. Nick turned the cold water on full blast. He splashed the water on his face and removed the last suds from his hair. He hopped out of the shower, briefly dried himself off and got dressed.

He opened the bathroom door and entered their motel room. Harriet was standing by the window, fully dressed, in black leggings and a fitted denim shirt. She had turned out the lights, drawn the curtains and was looking through a gap to the street below. She heard Nick enter the room and turned her attention to him.

"It feels good right?" she said.

"Yeah," Nick paused, "very good. Any activity?" He thought it was safer to change the subject.

"No, nothing exciting. We should probably try to get some sleep whiles we can. We've got a lot of work to do, and we need to be sharp," said Harriet.

Nick looked around the room and his eyes rested on the small double bed, "Oh, ah… I can take the floor if you like?" he offered.

"Don't be silly Nick, I trust you," she paused, "besides, we should probably sleep in shifts with one of us keeping watch. We can't be caught unawares."

"I can take first watch if you like?" offered Nick.

"That's sweet, but I think you really need to rest up and heal. You've been pretty banged up today."

"What this?" asked Nick, lifting his bitten hand, tongue in cheek, "it's a scratch. And besides, I'm apparently immune to zombie bites anyway… so…"

"I'd still feel better if you rested first," said Harriet.

Nick felt wired and was not sure how he was going to sleep. _Maybe I should have kept going in the shower._ He pulled back the covers of the motel bed, and sat on the edge.

"I'm always wary of motel beds," said Nick.

"They can be kind of creepy. Just try not to think about how many people have had sex on that bed," said Harriet with an evil little grin.

"Argh! Now I can't stop thinking about it! And what's that?" he said pointing to a suspicious looking stain on the sheets.

"It's best not to think about it. I'm sure the motel staff cleaned the sheets though, right?" Harriet was enjoying winding him up.

Nick threw himself back on the bed laughing, enjoying her messed up sense of humour. He threw the sheets over him and began to demurely shimmy off his jeans, and kick them out from under the edge of the sheets. He sat up, took off his t-shirt, and dropped it next to the bed. It was then he noticed that Harriet was looking at him out of the corner of her eye. She quickly diverted her eyes to the street outside and fell silent.

"How should we do this?" Nick asked.

"It's only 9pm, so we've got some time. How about we sleep four hours each?"

"Okay, but you've got to promise to wake me."

"I promise," said Harriet, still firmly fixing her gaze out the window.

Nick closed his eyes. The bed was surprising comfortable. He was clean and warm for the first time in days, and was incredibly grateful for this. _I don't know how I am going to sleep though. Zombies growling around outside, Harriet standing watch so close by. And I nearly died today, it's too much to take i—._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

This chapter contains adult content. As such, I have published it on adult-fanfiction.

I'm having trouble posting a link, so go to adult-fanfiction and it is a ".org"

Only enter the site if you are over 18!

You can either search under "find a member" on the left hand side, for me "pennybfarthing"

or

Under archives go to "games" and then "a through f" and "dead rising series". It is published under the same title "Dead Rising 3: A New Player"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Nick and Harriet were jolted from their sleep, as someone briskly walked through the door of their motel room. Nick's instincts were all wrong, as his first thought was to grab the sheets and cover himself. Harriet was more on point; she let the sheets fall to her waist, not caring about her nakedness, and grabbed the gun on the bedside table pointing it at the intruder.

"Whoa, dudes!" said a female voice, "I come in peace," a young woman in a light blue hoodie and white surgical mask had her hands up in the air.

"Wait Harry, I recognise her from the safe house, she's one of the illegals."

"Don't call me that!" said the stranger, "I'm an infected person who chooses not to be chipped and tagged like cattle. You can call me Anna."

Harriet began to relax, and pulled the sheet up around her underarms to cover herself, "I'm Harriet, and this is Nick," she said, as she indicated to Nick on the bed next to her.

"I know, Annie told us about you. I'm guessing you found some Zombrex?" said Anna.

"Yeah, one vial left," said Nick quickly; he wasn't ready to be outed as a freak just yet. Harriet took his lead and kept quiet.

"You're lucky, Doug didn't get back from his supply run until an hour ago. We figured you had either found some Zombrex or were toast," Anna said bluntly, "we tried to radio you but… I guess you were busy."

Nick began to blush, feeling like a teenager being walked in on. Harriet on the other hand didn't seem to take any notice. She began to rummage around under the sheets, trying to find her lost leggings and underwear.

"I'll give you two some privacy, I just need to grab something," Anna walked over to the weapons locker, and grabbed a can of spray paint, "I'll be back soon, I just need to finish the sign on the side of the motel. Then we can talk about our next move," she strode out the door, and closed it shut, leaving Harriet and Nick alone again.

"I'm sorry, I must have fallen asleep," said Nick, as he followed suit, and tried to find his underwear underneath the sheets at the bottom of the bed, "it was careless of me."

"Don't worry about it, I fell asleep too, and there was no harm done," Harriet pulled on her black leggings, and hopped out of bed. She began searching the floor for her bra and denim shirt.

A casual awkwardness descended on them as they got dressed. Nick wanted to talk about what happened between them but didn't know how to start. To say 'the sex was awesome' would be too juvenile, however he also thought he would sound pretty intense if he opened with 'what does this mean?'

Nick couldn't read Harriet. She seemed preoccupied as she buttoned up her fitted shirt. Nick approached her, fully clothed now, and put his arms around her waist. She responded and stood closer with her arms on his chest and they kissed deeply. She gently pushed his chest away from her, breaking off their kiss.

"I have no idea what to do now," she confessed.

"Neither do I," he said, whiles looking down into her eyes, however he couldn't help smiling at her. She smiled back and kissed him again.

The door opened behind them, "done!" said Anna, she paused briefly taking in the scene, "…should I… find something else to do outside…"

"No, that's fine," said Harriet, as she stepped back from Nick, "we need to… be sensible, and think of a plan."

Nick put his hands in his pockets, and faced Anna, "How are our people? We came in last night with Alice and Greg?"

"You wouldn't think it to look at them, but they're actually making themselves useful," said Anna, " they have been loading weapons, counting rations and the information they've given us about the special ops forces has been really helpful," Anna put down her spray can, and took off her mask. She couldn't have been more than 25 and of Asian descent, her straight black hair poking out from beneath her hood.

"Do we know what they are up to yet? And why they're killing survivors?" asked Harriet.

"We think a faction of the military deactivated the chips intentionally. We have found a few particularly weird looking zombies who still have their Zombrex chips in place. It explains how the outbreak spread so quickly. Instead of one infected illegal turning, it was hundreds of infected with chips all turning at the same time."

"Why would someone want to deactivate the chips? And how could they do it?" asked Harriet.

"Two very good questions we are still looking into," said Anna, with her index finger in the air.

"It's a big accusation to make. We know the chips aren't working, but how do we know it was done on purpose, or who did it?" Nick wasn't sure how he managed to sound naïve and sceptical all at the same time.

"All we do know for sure, is that these Special Ops forces are killing survivors, not saving them. We are working on getting some proof of this, which we think should be enough to get people on the outside asking some questions. Hemlock's pit bull, a sergeant called Hilde, is directing forces from police headquarters in Central and is organising taking out any remaining survivors in the area."

"I knew that bitch was crazy!" said Harriet, to no one in particular.

Anna continued, "The headquarters also has footage from those cameras we have all around Los Perdidos. Fucking police state! There's got to be some footage of the killings, if we can get that, we may start to get people to see what's really happening here. I volunteered to sneak in and get the evidence."

"By yourself?" asked Nick.

"One person can sneak in and out quick. And besides I'm the one in the group who is… the most familiar with the inside of the police station," said Anna, somewhat abashed.

"I want to come with you," Harriet said, "and I'm going to take out Hilde."

"Whoa! Stone cold," said Anna.

"It's too dangerous, Harriet!" said Nick.

Harriet looked at Nick coldly, "it's not your decision to make."

Nick was hurt. He had never been one to tell other people what to do, but he had never had someone he cared about threatening to engage in mortal combat with a police sergeant. He didn't know what to say, so remained quiet.

"There is a drug store on the way I want to check out, it's called the Happy Good Mart in South Ingleton," said Harriet, "they might have some more Zombrex there," _She must know there is no Zombrex, or we would have gone there last night. She sure is keen to get the morning after pill._ Thought Nick sulkily.

"Doug has pretty much cleaned out all the drug stores, not much chance there will be any left," said Anna.

Harriet smiled mischievously, as she picked up a key she had tucked in her shoe, "but he didn't have this. It's the key to the Happy Good Mart."

"How did you get it?" asked Anna.

Nick saw Harriet's face fall, "I found it in the Zen Garden nearby," she said, Nick new it was a lie, but understood. She didn't want to talk about killing the owner of the store.

"Well, I'm obviously joining you," said Nick, "we can stock up on supplies here before we head out," Nick headed over to the weapons locker to see what he could find.

"Maybe you should go to the shipping docks and help Rhonda with the plane?" said Harriet with some concern in her voice. Nick felt brushed off, but remained stubborn.

"I'm not going to let you risk your life alone," he grabbed his sledge saw, some grenades and a shotgun.

"awww, that's sweet!" said Anna, "but we should probably get going. Time is wasting and we have 6 days until they drop the bomb."

"If they are killing survivors already, why don't they just drop it now?" asked Nick bluntly.

"I've been wondering the same thing, are they looking for something?" asked Harriet.

"We'll see if we can find any answers at the police station," Anna said, as she selected a handgun.

"Let's book it," Anna said casually as they all left the motel room.

They stood on the balcony of the motel, and looked down at the street below. The zombies seemed thinner on the ground and less active than they did the night before.

"You said that the zombies with chips were weird looking, what did you mean?" asked Harriet, as they made for the second exit from the balcony.

"This outbreak is different," said Anna, "there are some which are kind of… mutants… like, they look less like people than regular zombies. We don't know why yet."

An abandoned truck was parked underneath the balcony, an easy jump from the balustrades. One by one, they hopped over and landed on the roof of the truck below. From there it was an easy jump to the hood and down to the road below. Harriet, Anna and Nick, made their way quickly through the throng. Anna preferred her assault rifle to a hand-to-hand weapon, and would delicately pop off any zombies blocking her path as they made their way through the street running toward the west side of town.

The journey was not without it's troubles. Nick was slicing his way through a group using his sledge saw, when a crawler grabbed his calf. He used the sledge end of his weapon to crack it's head open, however upon looking up he was faced with a fire-fighter zombie dressed in fluorescent yellow gear, complete with red fireman helmet and fire axe. Thankfully it was slow. It swung it's axe lazily backwards and brought it down in a wide arc above it's head towards Nick. Without thinking, he dove and rolled to his right, narrowly missing being axed. He decided to continue jogging rather than kill this one.

On the street ahead, they could see a heavy set man, of medium height in a red and white collared shirt, carrying a small limp blonde girl over his shoulders. He didn't appear to be able to move as quickly carrying his load, and was having trouble fending off the zombies that were surrounding him.

"They need our help!" said Nick, as he sped up towards them. Anna and Harriet followed suit.

It was only as they approached closer, that they could see something looked odd about the scene. The man was surrounded by now, and dropped the girl heavily to the ground to punch and kick away the zombies around him. He made no effort to protect the girl on the ground. _Oh my God_ thought Nick _she's a corpse._

The group seemed to reach the same conclusion as Nick at roughly the same time, and approached more hesitantly.

"Will ya help me out hear?" said the man as he threw a weighted right hook at a zombie blocking his path. Nick was the first to decide to give him the benefit of the doubt, and began sawing and thudding his way through the group that surrounded him. Anna hung back slightly and fired at any that looked in danger of causing damage. Harriet, reverted to her knife and stabbed all the zombies that were coming up from the rear in the head.

"Oh, jeez! Thanks, guys," said the man gratefully in a thick Italian American accent. He bent down, and lifted a zombie of the female corpse.

"Annie!" yelled Nick, as he saw the corpse's face for the first time. He bent down on the ground and held the back of her head to get a better look at her. Anna was beside him now; she didn't seem as concerned as Nick, and she casually moved in for a better look.

"It's okay Nick, it's not her," said Anna, "she's a dead ringer though… pun totally intended."

Nick had harboured a little crush on Annie during the three days they were holding up at the diner together. She was small, about 5"4, and had blonder hair complete with black tips and light blue eyes. She was an illegal, having been bitten 10 years ago when she was eight, and so wore purple and black striped gloves up to her elbows to cover the scar. She wasn't much of a conversationalist however, so Nick chose to admire her from afar.

"Hey, I'm glad it's not your friend. Really, I am," said the man, scratching his forearm, "but do you think you could help me get her to my boss?"

"Why should we do that?" asked Anna.

"Fine. Whatever," said the man bending down to pick her up, "I'll just get eaten alive out here. Don't worry about it," the sarcasm was laid on pretty thick.

"No, of course we'll help," said Nick, "you carry her and we can fend of the dead. How far are you going?"

"Just to The Diamond Panty."

"Cool, so not far," said Nick, however he didn't want appear to be a regular at the local strip club, which he wasn't, so he added, "I mean, I know where it is, but I don't go there," now he just sounded guilty. He looked around at Harriet for reassurance, however she just smirked and raised an eyebrow at him. She clearly didn't care if he had been to a strip club or not.

They entered the club through a side entrance, which was guarded by two muscular looking men in tight t-shirts.

"Sup?" said one, with a smile to both Harriet and Anna. Nick didn't like him.

"Si'down, grab a drink," said the man, indicating to the stools at the bar, "I'm Gary, by the way," he handed the body over to one of the guards and proceeded to take a seat. The bodyguard went through to another room with the body.

"Thanks Gary, I'm Nick and this is Anna and Harriet."

"Yo," said Anna, Harriet didn't speak but gave a polite wave. They each grabbed a beer, and Gary chose to have a swig from his hip flask.

Harriet leant over the bar, with a friendly smile, "so what does you boss want with a body anyway?" she sounded sweet, there was something about her voice or the way she carried herself that made you want to listen to her. Nick was confused for a second, but then understood that she was playing a role. He knew she could sound sweet, but it was certainly not her usual first impression.

"Ugh! Hell, if I know," said Gary, Harriet was looking into Gary's face and held her interested smile. He continued, "all I know is we have a picture from a security camera of the girl we're trying to find. We got a lead at the morgue, and I'm following it through."

"I was a bit worried when I saw a guy holding a dead body over his shoulder," said Harriet with a sheepish smile.

"Nah, nah, nah, we're not like that. Some of the things we do may be a bit… outside the boundaries of the law, but—"

The "sup" bouncer cleared his throat audibly.

"What?" said Gary over his shoulder, "we're in the middle of a zombie outbreak here, and besides, I'm pretty sure they are with the illegals, and are no stranger to operating outside of the law."

"Don't call us that!" said Anna.

"So you are an illegal?" said Gary.

The door to the private room opened and the second bodyguard spoke "boss wants you."

Gary let out a sigh and slid off his chair, "I'll be back," he headed into the private room and quiet fell over the three of them. Nick was very conscious that the "sup" bouncer may have been facing away from them, but was listening in on their conversation, so he wasn't sure what it was safe to say. He looked at Harriet who was sipping on her beer and turned his palms up in a curious gesture. All three of them exchanged glances, trying to silently interpret each other.

Suddenly, some raised voices could be heard from the next room. The door swung open violently and Gary came stumbling out, "how was I supposed to—" and the door closed behind him.

A brief pause followed and Harriet was the first to speak, "I guess it didn't go so well," she said, sounding concerned.

"No," said Gary firmly whiles looking at the ground. His eyes suddenly focused and he looked directly at Nick, "Annie, you said the girl you know is Annie, that could be the girl we're looking for."

Nick put his hands up in a gesture of neutrality, "hey man, I don't want to get involved. We want to get the hell out of here, and that's it."

"And how do you suppose you're going to do that?" said Gary.

There was something about having his intellect questioned, that had Nick's back up, "actually, we've got a plane and we are going to get out of here," Harriet leant in to hear the conversation more closely and pinched Nick's back roughly. _Stupid, Nick! Don't tell strangers about our plane._ But the damage had been done so he finished his sentence there.

"Oh yeah? A plane in Los Perdidos. I bet it's in tip top shape and ready to go," said Gary with his characteristic sarcasm.

"Well," said Harriet, "it's not quite ready, do you know where we can get some fuel?"

"Look," said Gary, "my boss is very well connected, you know what I'm saying? He could get you some fuel for your plane. You help me find this Annie girl, and we help you."

"Hey, man—" Anna started to say, Harriet quickly cut across her.

"Look!" Harriet said, sounding desperate, "we haven't seen Annie since she spilt from the diner yesterday. We wouldn't know where to start."

"I'm sure you'll think of something," said Gary, "just start asking around, there aren't too many places to hide in this city right now."

Nick finished his beer in one gulp, "we better get going. We've got an errand to run."

"Fine, but if you want that fuel, bring the girl here, and then we'll talk."

"Thanks for the beer," said Harriet, Anna remained silent.

They walked out of The Diamond Panty, and started their journey towards the Happy Good Mart. After about a block, Anna pushed Harriet hard in the shoulder.

"What the fuck man?" said Anna, "We aren't snitches!"

"Of course we're not," said Harriet rather reasonably, "we just need them to think we might be so they won't follow us to her. And besides, by playing nice, we found out more about how they found Annie, that they know what she looks like, just not her name, and we found out that they have contacts to get us some fuel."

Nick marvelled at how coolly Harriet played the situation. Anna and Nick were fumbling between getting angry and hurt, where as Harriet was playing him the whole time.

They approached the Happy Good Mart through the Zen Garden, and happily there were very few zombies inside. Harriet stopped for a moment and looked at a decapitated body on the ground. As if rousing herself from her own mind, she exhaled deeply, and ran towards the store.

"Was that… him?" Nick asked, as Anna was out of earshot.

"Yeah… that's him," said Harriet grimly, "fucked up freak," she said angrily as she unlocked the door to the drug store.

Inside was a various assortment of herbs and creams that Nick didn't think anyone had any idea what were for. Without speaking, they all started to search for something useful. Nick could admit to himself that he was completely clueless. Harriet and Anna were behind the counter sorting through items completely unknown to him, whiles he wondered around the isles looking for something useful. _I think this is all… stomach stuff_ he thought as he wondered through an unhelpful looking section. As he moved through the rows of vitamins, creams and tonics, he found himself face to face with a wall of condoms. He paused and took a furtive look at Harriet and Anna. They were pulling down boxes, and conferring over labels. _Should I get some just in case? It might have just been a one-time thing._ He agonised over what to do, for 3 seconds, and then shoved the nearest packet of condoms and a little bottle of lube into his jeans pocket.

"There's no more Zombrex, sorry Nick," said Anna.

"Anything else?" Nick asked, straining to sound casual.

"Just some antibiotics and pain meds," said Harriet, looking Nick directly in the eyes.

"Okay, that's good," he said, sounding overly cheerful.

"Let's see if we can find a car to make our way to Central," said Anna, as she took off through the front entrance.

Harriet stood behind the counter, looking at the ground as if inspecting the boxes on the floor. Nick could see concern and frustration on her face.

"Harry, it's okay," he approached the counter like a customer, "if it's not here, it's not here. We can't worry about it right now."

"But now is exactly when I need to worry about it," Harriet sighed, "I'm just annoyed at myself. I was so stupidly optimistic last night, but the reality is, I have no idea what the morning after pill looks like." She looked lost in amongst the boxes of drugs on the floor.

Nicked moved around the counter and held her hand, "we have to just, forget it for now," he was so concerned about what lay ahead of them, he couldn't muster the energy to be worried about an unwanted pregnancy.

Harriet appeared more frustrated, "it's easy for you to say!" Nick was once again crushed and felt misunderstood.

"Come on! I've found one," said Anna, from the store entrance.

Nick turned to leave and felt a soft small hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry, I'm just… so pissed off with myself," said Harriet.

"It's fine," said Nick distractedly, "really, let's just focus on what we need to do right now," he jogged outside to the car Anna had waiting for them, weaving around a zombie as he went, feeling confused and afraid.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

As soon as they started driving, they all sensed it was going to be too dangerous to drive the car over the two freeways required to get to Central. The windscreen cracked after a few minutes of driving, and it was very difficult to see out of. It would do for driving them around the streets of Ingleton, but wouldn't make it through the heavy throngs of zombies you would encounter on the freeways.

"We can go to Rhonda's garage and I'll reinforce the vehicle," said Nick.

"You got mad skills Nick," said Anna.

They made their way to Wrench O Rama and Anna pulled up outside the front.

"I'll head in and open the garage door," said Nick.

"You'll need to hurry, they are starting to take an interest in us," said Anna.

"I've got an idea, I hope the zombies are stupid enough for it to work," said Harriet.

She hopped out of the muscle car and leapt on top of the roof as Nick ran in through the front entrance. He moved quickly, locking the front access door behind him as he made his way to the garage. He heard from outside three loud pops followed by whistles through the air. _Fireworks?_ Thought Nick as he ran towards the automatic garage door opener.

As the roller shutters opened, he saw 3 red flickering flames dancing on the ground about 100 yards in either direction of the garage door. _Flare gun! Clever girl…_ The zombies were toddling towards the flames on the ground, growling and snatching towards the fizzling fuses, with only a few zombies still tailing the muscle car. Anna and Harriet drove into the garage and Nick quickly pressed the garage door close button behind them. One zombie managed to get inside, however Nick was on it. He stuck out his leg and tripped it up, then swung the sledgehammer over his head, and brought it down hard on the zombie, cracking it's skull.

"Remind me not to mess with you," said Harriet with a grin. Nick felt chuffed and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to look casual. The last few zombies outside had wondered off towards the ruckus.

"Well, I better get to work," said Nick.

"How long do you need?" asked Harriet.

"Maybe an hour? We'll try to hang on to this one this time," said Nick.

"Yeah, we seem to be churning through these combo vehicles," said Harriet, "I'm going to head upstairs to see if I can find anything useful," she paused and held Nick's eye before she left, "you know food… scissors…"

Nick laughed, and enjoyed the familiarity they now had. He felt distracted thinking about the first time he talked with Harriet whiles cutting her hair. He decided he needed to focus, so he got to work stripping the bodywork off another car and reinforcing the muscle car.

After Nick had been at his work a while, he rolled out from underneath the car, and looked up as Harriet and Anna were walking down the stairs together. They were laughing at some shared joke and talking happily together. This made Nick smile, to see her happy.

"I'm nearly done, just need to tighten up a few things," said Nick, eager to get in on the good vibes going around.

"Harry tells me you're a hairdresser," said Anna.

"Yeah," Nick smiled shyly, "I gave it a go, I'm not going to give up my day job though… it's not 100%... even."

"I actually quite like it," said Harriet, scrunching the ends of her hair.

"You certainly pull it off," said Nick.

"I'm going to barf you guys. Stop being cute," said Anna with a mock look of disgust on her face.

"I'll get back to work then," said Nick, as he turned to his workbench.

"We found some orange juice, want some," said Harriet, as she walked over to Nick offering the juice.

"Oh my god yes!" he said, and eagerly took the bottle, "have you guys already had some?"

"Yeah, we have. Go on, have the rest."

Nick had never drunk orange juice so gratefully. It was refreshing and tangy, so he swallowed down the rest of the 2-litre bottle in one go.

"Oh! That was amazing," he said as he wiped any remaining juice from his face, "thanks."

Harriet stood closer, stood on her toes to get closer to Nick's face, and kissed him on the lips. Nick was relieved. After last night, and their debacle at the drug store, he wasn't sure if she had wanted to be close to him again. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back.

"Guys! Do you need a hand getting the vehicle finished," Anna reminded them, yelling from the front reception area.

Nick and Harriet reluctantly stopped kissing, "no, all good," said Nick, attempting to sound casual. Harriet's hands wondered over Nick, and he was paralysed for a moment, not wanting her to stop. He grabbed her ass cheekily and whispered in her ear, "I can't concentrate if you keep doing that you know."

Harriet sighed and took a step back from Nick, "I know, I'll be good," she said.

"The vehicle is nearly finished and then we can go to the police station," Nick finished his sentence with a heavy feeling in his stomach. The realisation of what they were embarking on filled him with dread. _What if we can't get the footage we need? What if we get caught? What if Harriet dies?_

"We're going to be okay Nick," said Harriet, as if in response to his change in mood, "I can do this."

"I know you can, I'm just really worried," he finished lamely.

"That's good! We can't go in there cocky. I'll look at our supplies with Anna, just let us know when it's ready."

She leaned in for one last kiss, however Nick was only half there. She walked off to find Anna, and left Nick to his growing anxiety. _We can do this right? I mean, I'm a mechanic, Anna's a…. criminal and Harriet is… experienced at this somehow._ Usually his pep talks made him feel positive and in control, but those feelings weren't coming right now…

Nick threw himself back into his work and within a short while, he had made a great combo vehicle. It wouldn't last forever against a zombie heard, but it was going to stop them getting bogged down in a trough of zombies and all the glass was reinforced to stop clingers getting in.

"I think it's done," said Nick, as he put away the last of his tools.

"Awesome!" said Anna and Harriet together. They laughed out loud and gave each other a high five.

"Who's driving?" said Harriet.

"I think you should," said Nick, "you're great at avoiding the herds and I've seen you get us out of some pretty fucked up situations with your driving."

"Harry told me about those biker dudes," said Anna, "I mean, we knew Los Perdidos was fucked, but man!"

"It's settled, let's head to the police station," Harriet headed for the driver seat, Anna got in the passenger side and Nick crawled over to the back seat. They all seemed to have learned from previous driving experience in the outbreak, and buckled their seatbelts.

The ride from the garage went well. They drove to South Almuda, and found their way around the roadblocks set-up by the army. Harry found her way through a fireworks factory, she stopped outside, fired off a few rounds of her shotgun, setting off the fireworks in her path, and ploughed through the factory. Nick noticed that they were near the shipping docks, _Rhonda, Diego and Dick are right through there, fixing the plane_.

"We should stop and check in with Rhonda, Dick and Diego whiles we're here," said Nick, "they probably think I'm dead."

"That's a good idea, we can see what else they need whiles we are at it," said Harriet, taking a right towards the shipping warehouse.

They hopped out of the car, and took out three nearby zombies quietly using hand-to-hand weapons. Nick ran to the side entrance and knocked on the door, "Rhonda, it's me Nick!"

Anna and Harriet were standing guard whiles Nick continued to attempt to gain entrance. After a few moments, Nick heard some footsteps come towards the door.

"Who is it?" said a panicky, and familiar voice.

"It's Nick, Diego, let us in."

He heard the lock click and the door opened. They quickly and quietly slipped inside and Diego locked the door behind them.

"Who is this?" said Diego, still sounding alarmed.

"I'm Anna, hey," she said giving a small wave, "you must be Diego."

They walked through the small entrance area and into a massive warehouse. There was an old plane taking up a large chunk of space, and a few supplies scattered around. _Thank god,_ thought Nick, when he saw Rhonda and Dick were safe.

"Rhonda," yelled Nick, as he ran to give her a hug. She dropped her tools and warmly returned the hug.

"Oh! Honey! I thought the worst! You found some Zombrex?" asked Rhonda.

"Yeah, just in time. Harry really saved my ass!"

Rhonda ran over to Dick and Harriet, who were exchanging awkward high fives, "Thank you Harriet," said Rhonda, and gave her a hug. Harriet seemed taken aback at first, however returned her hug.

"It was no problem, I wasn't going to let him turn," Harriet smiled at Nick, and then turned back to Dick, "could I have one of those?" she asked, indicating to his cigarettes.

"Sure thing," he grabbed his pack from his jeans pocket and offered her a cigarette. She grabbed her lighter from her shirt pocket and lit her cigarette, taking her first drag, "thanks," she said.

Dick and Harriet continued to talk, and Nick could see Anna and Diego joining them. As they got to know each other, he took the time to talk about their next move with Rhonda.

"How's the plane going?" he asked.

"Aside from the fuel, it needs some parts before it will get off the ground. We're lucky, because it's an old plane, mechanically it's quite simple and I know enough to get it going. But there's a catch. Because it's old, they don't make the parts anymore. It still needs a rudder arm, a fly wheel and an altimeter."

"Diego," said Nick across to the other group, "where did the plane come from?"

"It was donated to the museum by a collector in Sunset Hills," said Diego.

"If we can find this collector, we might find the parts we need," said Nick to Rhonda, "he may have been collecting parts for his plane too."

"Not just a pretty face Nick!" said Rhonda, giving his cheek a little pat.

Nick smiled shyly, it embarrassed him a little when Rhonda complimented him, but it did make him smile.

"We're in luck, finally… Inside the plane I found a copy of the contract the collector made with the museum, it has an address," said Rhonda.

Nick studied the paperwork briefly, and saw the address on the final page of the contract.

"I know the place. Harriet, Anna and I have an errand to run, and then we'll work on getting those parts for you. Some more good news, we've got a lead on the fuel."

"Really! Where? How?" asked Rhonda.

"We met a guy on the road, says his boss is looking for someone who we think is Annie. He says if we bring Annie to him, we can get some fuel," said Nick.

"What's not to love about that!" said Rhonda. She had never really taken a shine to Annie, mostly because she was an illegal, but Nick also thought Rhonda didn't like her because she never responded to Nick's crush.

"We are not handing her over Rhonda. That's just not going to happen, but we know there is some fuel in this town, enough for the plane. We've just got to work on a plan," said Nick with determination.

"You're one of the good ones Nick," said Rhonda. She was mad that he wasn't going to turn Annie in, but was proud of him too, he thought.

"You've got to know Rhonda, these illegals aren't paranoid freaks," said Nick, "We've been lied to. The chips in Los Perdidos have been de-activated. Anna and Harriet have seen zombies with their chips still in place, it's the only way the infection could have spread so quickly. It wasn't just one illegal turning, it was hundreds of chipped infected who stopped getting their Zombrex administered.

"There's more," Nick continued, "We met a couple, Alice and Greg, on the way to the safe house. They've seen the Special Ops forces in town killing survivors. They are not saving people, if you see any of them, run!"

"Nick, that is crazy! Have you seen any of this for yourself?"

"No," this gave Nick pause, he really was taking everyone's word for it,  
"but we're going to get some proof and get it to some people on the outside. You have to trust me on this. We are in deep shit! If the zombies don't get us, we're not going to be saved or evacuated. We have to get out ourselves," said Nick.

"Oh God…." said Rhonda, "this is so much worse than we thought. How are we going to get out?"

"We'll just need to stick together."

"We'll stick to the plan, I'll keep working on the plane with Dick and Diego, you get the parts, and we'll both think of a plan to get that fuel."

"We've got to go, but you be safe Rhonda, keep as quiet in here as possible."

"We should head," said Anna, she was starting to get cagey.

"Be careful you three," said Dick, "watch your ass's"

Harriet, Anna and Nick made their way to the front exit. Dick got Nick's attention before he could head out, "how the hell did you make it?"

"Harry and I found some Zombrex at the Ingleton Motel last night. We held up there until morning," said Nick, telling a half-truth.

"Please tell me you tapped that," said Dick, in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Come on, Dick," said Nick.

"Leave him be Dick," said Rhonda, "our Nick's a good kid."

"He didn't deny it," said Dick.

"Guys," said Harriet popping her head around the corner, "I can still hear you."

Anna also popped her head around the doorframe, making the two look quite comical, "and maybe 'your Nick' isn't so good after all…" said Anna.

"Shut up, Anna!" said Harriet, in mock offense.

"Uh…" Nick felt extremely uncomfortable, "we should go," said Nick. Rhonda looked a little shocked, where as Dick just grinned and offered a high five.

"I'm not returning that," said Nick, pointing to his hand.

With more than enough said, Nick joined Harriet and Anna. They headed back to the car to continue their journey to the Police Station.

"Now let's kick some ass," said Anna.

Nick's stomach was in knots.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

After making it through the thick mass of zombies on the freeway to central, they pulled up a block away from the Police Station. There was no safe place to stop on the streets in Los Perdidos anymore, only places less packed with zombies. They all hopped out of the car and cleared the immediate area. Harriet used her knife and Nick used his sledgesaw.

"No guns!" said Harriet, just as Anna was raising her weapon to fire.

"What do you want me to do then?" said Anna, with real confusion.

"We can't let them hear us coming," said Harriet, as she stabbed an approaching zombie through the temple and yanked the blade back out.

The group moved on foot up the road to the police station and were quickly faced with a dilemma. A man in police gear was standing on top of a vehicle. He had no weapon, and was looking for an exit, but was completely surrounded by a few dozen zombies.

"Do we save the pig?" asked Anna, as they all hid behind a nearby car.

"Wait here," said Harriet, she charged towards the group with her sword drawn. Nick decided not to listen and charged after her with his sledge saw. This was tougher than their previous fights. They weren't simply avoiding zombies, but actively clearing a large group. Harriet's method had changed slightly and she used her sword to decapitate zombies as she danced in and away from the group. Their heads were still alive, chattering away, but could do little harm without their bodies. Nick picked off any zombies that posed a threat. He swung upwards with the saw end, carving through the head of an approaching zombie and then swung the sledge in an arc above his head down on another as it lunged in for a bite.

Nick found during the fray, that he was starting to get the hang of it. They were very slow and if you couldn't swing in time to hit them in the head, they were easily avoided by jumping out of the way, leaving the lunging zombie vulnerable to an attack from behind.

As they picked off the last remaining zombies, the man on top of the vehicle had hopped down and was kicking and stomping on any zombies he could find, "oh sweet Jesus! Thank you!" said the man, "I thought I'd punched my ticket. I'm Dwayne."

"I'm Harry and this is Nick and…." Just then Anna came up behind them quietly, trying not to be noticed, "this is Anna. Don't mind her, she's shy of cops."

Anna said nothing, she just hung back and observed.

"She don't gotta be shy of nothing! I'm a cop, but damn I haven't really felt like one the last few days. You kids really know how to handle yourselves." Nick, at being called "kid", noticed the apparent age gap between them.

"We've just been surviving the last few days, same as you," said Nick.

"You up for another challenge? It's well worth your while?" said Dwayne.

Harriet played her cards well as before, "what do you have in mind?"

"Well… it's been a fucked up few days. The department have been trying to save this city, but it has been going to hell from the very beginning. We'd send people out to a disturbance and they would never come back. We'd ask the military for some support or directions, but we'd just get some bullshit like 'contain the area' or 'minimise civilian causalities'. All our procedures say that in a zombie outbreak, we are meant to follow military directives, but we got nothing."

"That's because they–"

Harriet cut Anna off quickly, "What do you think is happening?"

Dwayne remained silent for a while, "I'm not sure, but over the last few days, I've seen some things. Not all is right in Los Perdidos. More should have been done buy now to contain this, instead their just leaving us here."

"We are suspicious as well," said Harriet, "that's why we are here. Some of our group witnessed the special operations forces killing unbitten survivors without warning. We need to see if we can find any video to support this."

Dwayne regarded Harriet for a moment and then Anna and Nick, "normally I'd say you were crazy, but it's what I've seen…" he stopped talking abruptly.

"We need other people to know what is happening here," said Nick, "that's why we're risking ourselves to get in to the police department to see what's going on. There is a sergeant in there, Hilde, who is apparently coordinating the offensive on any survivors in Los Perdidos."

"Fuck!" said Dwayne, "this is not what I signed up for when I became a cop."

Dwayne reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, "this is my mission, but maybe we are on the same road. It's the keys to the armoury at the police station. It's locked up tight, but I managed to get these off a friend of mine who had tuned zombie," Dwayne paused for a moment with the memory, however sensing the time, he continued, "we could go to the armoury and stock up on supplies, then see what we can find from there."

"How can we trust you?" asked Anna.

"How can I trust you?" asked Dwayne.

Anna paused over this for some time, "fair call" was all she said.

"This is amazing Dwayne, this will really help us," said Nick, "can you take us to the armoury?"

"With pleasure," said Dwayne, with a new determination.

The quartet moved towards the entrance of the police station and made it through the halls, killing single zombies as they went towards the armoury.

When they arrived, Harriet's eyes lit up. She pressed her hands against the metal security grating that blocked their entrance and she eyed off the weaponry inside.

"There's grenade launchers, more flare guns, stun grenades!" she turned excitedly to the group, hoping to share her enthusiasm. Only Dwayne seemed as excited about the stockpile as Harriet.

"We can do a lot of good, and a lot of damage with all of this," said Dwayne, as he unlocked the armoury door.

Nick walked into the room, and was overwhelmed by the amount of supplies. There were weapons he was not even sure what to do with. Everyone in the group began poking around, only Harriet began to pick up guns and check the weight and feel of them.

"You seem to know your way around," said Dwayne to Harriet.

"It's a nice little stash of weaponry you have here, is there anything in particular which you think is going to be helpful?" Harriet asked.

"There are these little beauties which are a must have," said Dwayne as he reached into a locker and pulled out a particularly savage looking automatic weapon, "it's a zombie assault rifle, or Z.A.R., doesn't take much of an aim to take down the dead with this one. One shot to the general head area will be enough to put them down. It's kind of a hybrid of a shotgun and an assault rifle developed shortly after the first outbreak in 2006. It's now standard issue."

"How many rounds?" asked Harriet.

"Sixty," said Dwayne.

Harriet whistled in appreciation as she picked up the Z.A.R.

"I think I'll take one," said Nick.

"Me too," chimed in Anna.

As the group stocked up on weapons they thought would be most useful, Dwayne launched into tactics.

"What were you planning?" asked Dwayne.

Harriet deferred to Anna's expertise here and looked over at her for support.

"Well, on the top level in the offices, they have access to the security cameras around Los Perdidios," Anna started, she looked apprehensively over at Dwayne, however felt she had no option but to continue, "I want to scan through the footage close to the police station to see if we can find anything incriminating, mainly military killing off survivors. If we can get that, I'll upload it to my stick."

"And then what?" asked Dwayne. Everyone fell silent, unsure of how much to tell him.

"What do you think we should do with something like that?" asked Harriet.

"I'm no tech guy, but we need to find a way to get it out to the general public," Dwayne seemed to sense the distrust in the room, "it's the military doing this, not the police! We are the ones who are all dead!"

That was enough for Nick, "That's what we need to do. We get the files and we get out of here quietly. We know a way to get it out there."

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Dwayne.

"Alright bacon boy, we trust you for now. But if you snitch or make a false move, we'll be on you," said Anna, ever the adversary of the police.

"Hey! No need to call me bacon boy, I let you into this goddamn armoury!" said Dwayne.

Nick intervened, "we're all a little jumpy. We've seen some messed up shit, and have no idea who we can trust. We know you are just a guy to trying to survive, but we'd be stupid not to be wary of anyone connected to the government."

Dwayne was neutralised by Nick's words, "hell!" he said, as he kicked a baton lightly across the floor, "I get it."

"Let's quietly make our way upstairs," said Harriet, "what about Hilde?"

No one knew what to say. Everyone kept busy strapping on their new weapons and looking busy.

"I guess we'll see what we find upstairs," said Harriet.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Dwayne, Anna, Harriet and Nick, quietly made their way upstairs. They found some food, and discarded energy drinks along the way that they ate quickly. As they entered the large open plan office on the top floor, Nick felt instantly exposed. Glass windows lined both sides of the floor.

"I think we need to get this footage as quickly as possible," said Nick as he eyed off the windows.

"Nick's right, do your thing Anna Banana," said Harriet, _is that her nickname?_ Thought Nick.

Anna quickly did her thing. She found the nearest cubicle and plugged in a sophisticated portable device into the PC. Nick was at a loss as to what she was doing, but decided to be helpful in anyway he could.

"Let's duck down in this cubicle for coverage," he said. Dwayne and Harriet readily agreed. They kept their Z. on the ready, and squatted down below cubicle height to keep from sight.

"Piece of piss," said Anna, as she furiously typed in commands, and hacked the security monitoring system.

Nick kept his eye on the screen as Anna trawled through several security cameras on the screen at the same time. She forwarded to one-day prior in order to find something they could use.

'Right there! Take it back," said Nick, pointing to the top right camera view.

He had everyone's attention now. Anna pulled up the screen view and started the scene from the beginning. A man holding an injured woman fell to his knees outside the police station. There was no audio, but they could see the man was sobbing, imploring for help. Two fully armed special ops flanked him from either side pointing their weapons at him. The man placed the woman on the ground and put his hands up in the air. It was hard to watch. Hilde strode out on the street, still wearing her strange attire of short black shorts, some kind of weird black leather waist corset, midriff white collared shirt and unnecessary black skinny tie, complete with police cap.

Hilde indicated to one of the special ops guys, who quickly turned and shot the woman in the head. The man on his knees screamed and grabbed his hair indicating to the woman on the ground. Nick leaned in closer to the screen to read the lips of the man. He seemed to be saying "she's not bit" over and over again. Hilde confidently strode behind him and grabbed his body from behind with her knees. She grabbed his head and yanked it around to the side with great force and he slumped to the ground motionless. Hilde smiled and stretched her arms behind her head, then moved her hand over her short platinum bob and slowly over her breasts. She seemed to be enjoying herself.

"I've seen enough," said Nick, as he turned away from the screen. Anna was already grabbing the segments of the film and uploading it to her device.

"What the… fuck?" said Dwayne, "I knew things were wrong here, but… FUCK!" he said.

"That's why we have to take her down," said Harriet.

"How do we do that?" asked Nick.

"Might not be too hard to find her, someone's on to us," said Anna, as she typed furiously.

"Fuck!" said Nick.

"Everyone get ready," said Harriet, "I'll take Hilde if she comes. You guys go for any special ops that come for us."

A window in the far corner smashed as a slim figure rolled across the ground.

"We'll cover you while you finish up," said Harriet, and she ran to a nearby concrete column for cover. Harriet fired several shots towards the new arrival and then a great flash went off in their surrounding area. Nick hit the deck, momentarily stunned by the flash, and then heard rapid shots being fired towards their cubicle. The partition exploded into shards as Anna, Dwayne and Nick struggled for cover. Anna pulled out her device and zipped it up in her hoodie jacket.

"There's no need for any… hostilities," said a husky voice from the other side of the room, "just hand over the stick, and we'll let you all go."

"We can't do that," said Nick, "you're killing innocent people, Hilde."

"You must be the cute one in the tight white t-shirt," said Hilde, "that's right, my slow friend, we've been watching you. I'll amend my terms, give me the drive and the cute dumb one, and I'll let the rest of you go."

"What did I ever do to you?" said Nick.

"Nothing sweetness, I just want to have a little fun with you," said Hilde.

"Fuck you!" said Harriet, from behind her concrete pillar. She fired three shots towards her, however Hilde anticipated the move and quickly ducked for cover.

"ooo! Are you jealous dear…" said Hilde. _Where is she? Is she on the move?_

"I just want to borrow him for a while. Can't you share? Are you worried he won't want to come back after I'm through with him?"

There was another stunning flash and Nick instinctively hit the ground again. Then it seemed, Hilde invited the rest of the party.

A series of windowpanes crashed to their right, and several Special Ops guys drop rolled to the floor, ready to launch their attack. Anna and Dwayne bobbed their heads above the partition and fired at the special ops entering the building. One of their shots landed and one for the four men went down. Nick pulled his Z.A.R from the chest strap, and fired at the agent closest to the group. It was a good gun. He fired three rapid shots, and although neither seemed to be particularly accurate, he went down and lay motionless.

Nick could hear a series of smacks and thuds from nearby and bobbed up to see Harriet and Hilde fighting savagely to his left. He could only take in the scene for a few seconds and saw Harriet block a roundhouse kick delivered by Hilde. Harriet then launched a savage right hook, which landed Hilde squarely in the face.

Nick raised his gun to fire, however Hilde tackled Harriet to the ground and head butted her. It seemed that Harriet anticipated this and moved away enough so that the blow did little damage, however it was enough time for Hilde to wrap her legs around Harriet's neck in an attempt to strangle her.

Nick couldn't fire his weapon, as he'd likely kill Harriet too, so he pulled a knife he retrieved from the armoury and ran at Hilde to plunge the knife into her. He had apparently underestimated the police sergeant. She grabbed the knife Nick was holding, and lunged on top of him, releasing her hold of Harriet in the process. She turned the knife around and was inches away from plunging it into Nick's chest, "come on honey," said Hilde, "this isn't all bad," she said as she grinded up against him. Harriet crashed tackled Hilde in return. The knife went flying through the air beyond both their grasps.

Shots continued to fire from the remaining two special ops and Nick dived for cover behind another concrete column. Hilde and Harriet continued to fight in moves Nick had only seen in movies, and for half a second he marvelled at the skill and agility of Harriet. She moved her head back to take the force out of a punch thrown by Hilde and used her momentum against her to throw her off balance and deliver a swift kick to her knee which nearly brought Hilde to the ground.

A small little ball was thrown toward the cubicle and Nick needed to act quickly.

'Grenade!" he yelled, as the small device was lobbed in the air. It was enough warning to get Anna and Dwayne from out of the cubicle, but it made them vulnerable. Shots fired towards them as they dove out of the way, and Nick managed to pick off the guy who was going to do the most damage.

He could see Dwayne hauling Anna behind another concrete pillar on the far side as shots continued to fire by the last remaining Special Ops. Nick fired towards him to cover them.

Out of nowhere, he was hit in the back of the head by something and he went to the ground hard. He had the familiar feeling of knowing he needed to get up, however he was feeling nauseous and dizzy as he tried to struggle to his feet. He heard more shots being fired, and as he looked to his left he could see Hilde on top of Harriet on the ground. He launched himself from his elbows to get up, but couldn't find his feet and slammed into the ground again. His vision was blurry, but he could see the two of them struggling for control of a knife aimed at Harriet's chest. Nick couldn't get up and couldn't crawl over fast enough. He grabbed his Z.A.R and struggled to aim it with blurred sight at Hide's feet, which were several inches away from Harriet's.

He sensed he didn't have much time and pulled the trigger. He heard a scream, and promptly lost consciousness.

Nick came round to a bottle of water to the face and saw Dwayne and Harriet standing over him. _Thank God! She's okay._ He thought.

"Where are they? Are we okay?" said Nick.

"We're okay for now, but we have to move quickly, Anna is injured and they'll send more after us when they know what we've got," said Harriet.

"Can you walk?" said Dwayne.

"Yeah, I will. What happened to Anna?"

"She was shot in the leg, no damage to the artery, but we've got to get her back to the safe house in Sunset Hills," said Harriet.

"Oh… FUUUUUUCK" said Anna to no one.

Nick sat up and patted his chest as if to assess he was okay. He knew there was no time for questions, so got up unsteadily to his feet to make a move out of there.

"She can't walk," said Harriet.

"Not a bother," said Dwayne as he knelt down and swung Anna over his shoulders.

"I'm fine— oh shiiiit," said Anna.

"No complaints, Anna! We need to get to the car now! It's nearly dark," said Harriet.

Nick felt he was still staggering and unsure of his footing, but he didn't want to be a burden. They made their way down the stairs, however as they got to the ground level, a few zombies had heard the brawl and were curiously tottering towards the noise. Harriet was picking them off easily whiles they were inside the police station, however when they got outside, things got a little tricker. Dwayne only had one hand free, and was having trouble operating his weapon. There were a couple of dozen zombies out on the street.

 _My sledge saw,_ thought Nick, he had left it upstairs. So he grabbed his Z.A.R and tried to hit any zombies in their way as they moved towards the car. His accuracy wasn't great, it took him 3-4 shots to get near enough to take any zombies down, but it was enough to help out.

"I'll drive," said Harriet, as she opened up the driver's side and helped slump Anna in the back seat.

Nick made his own way to the driver's side, and drunkenly lobbed himself in the back seat. Dwayne and Harriet hopped in quickly and they roared off towards the freeway and Sunset Hills before night fell.

"Hilde?" said Nick from the back seat.

"She's dead. After you shot her in the foot, I was able to break her hold, flip her over and stab her," said Harriet as she drove madly through the streets of central. Now that she mentioned it, Harriet was covered in fresh blood.

"It was God damn close! That grenade nearly got us," said Dwayne, "Anna was shot as we made our way for cover."

"You got that son of a whore though," said Anna, breathing heavily.

"We're going to take a shortcut, so hang on!" said Harriet, as they made their way to the freeway entrance. Up ahead, Nick could see that the road across the freeway from Central to Sunset Hills had been taken out. Harriet floored the gas towards the chasm and Nick quietly swore to himself while buckling his seat belt.

The car hit the broken edge of road at alarming speed, and for a moment took flight. Nick could feel his stomach rise, which did nothing for his nausea, and they landed hard on the road on the other side. Anna screamed as they landed, her wound causing her significant pain, and Nick vomited all over the floor of the backseat.

"Whhhhhooooooa" yelled Dwayne as they landed safely. Harriet slapped his thigh in response to his enthusiasm. Nick felt stupid that he had vomited.

"How's that concussion coming along Nick?' asked Harriet, as she flew through the herds.

Nick could barely respond, but managed an "I'm fine" which was not exactly correct.

Harriet drove through the masses on the streets, and Nick found himself thinking that they couldn't have made the journey without the car. Zombies were flying over the hood and over the top of the car, and the reinforced sides meant none could get in. They had made their way to the safe zone, and a few illegals were outside to help them get in, clearing a path to allow them safe passage. _Thank God. I just need to rest a while. I'm sick of fighting and killing. Just one night off_ Nick thought. And for once, he got what he asked for.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Doug, a burly man in a black t-shirt, army pants and a haircut you could set your watch by, lifted Anna effortlessly from the car. Meanwhile, Nick, Harriet and Dwayne made their own way inside. Once the doors were closed behind them, they could hear the thud of zombies trying to get in as the sun started to set. Harriet set off a flare over the walls and into the street below, and before long; the zombies lost interest and went in search of their pretty lights.

As Nick realised the danger was over, he stumbled and sat heavily on the ground.

"I'll take Anna upstairs for some first aid," said Doug, "what do I do with this guy?" he said as he gestured threateningly at Dwayne.

"Cool it, Doug!" screamed Anna, she was being cradled in both his arms like a small child, however still managed to sound savage as she yelled up into Doug's face, "he's fine, he's with us."

Doug shrugged it off with no words and made his way upstairs to the rest of the group, with Dwayne following. Harriet stayed behind and sat on the ground next to Nick.

"I'm so glad you're okay," said Nick.

"I can handle myself," said Harriet assuredly. She turned to Nick, and reached her hand around to the back of his head, "nothing cracked or broken, just a concussion I think."

Her face was so close to his as she gently felt his skull through his hair. He remembered the first few times she was close to him, checking for signs of infection. He would look away, to take the potency out of their closeness. But now he looked into her eyes. He had never seen a colour like it. You couldn't even say they were an unusual blue. They were a vibrant shade of violet. There were so many unknowns about Harriet. He wanted to know everything about her.

"Where did you get your eye colour from?" asked Nick.

Harriet stopped her examination and held his gaze, "it's a mild form of ocular albinism" she started, "I lack melanin, or colouring, in the epithelium of my iris and therefore my red blood vessels show through from the back of my eye. This makes what would otherwise look like blue eyes, appear purple. Not that sexy when you break it down really," she finished her logical explanation, as if she had said it a thousand times before.

Nick didn't care how factually she explained them. He thought they were beautiful. He got the feeling however, that it was something people complimented her on all the time, so he decided to change topic.

"How did you learn to fight like that? And what hit me in the back of the head?" Nick reached his hand to the back of his head and felt the area where he was struck.

"It was Hilde, she got a little ahead of herself, and seeing you do so much damage to the Special Ops, decided to take a moment away from our fight to deliver a roundhouse kick to the back of your head. It was pretty nasty… It gave me time to grab the knife, but she ended up turning it on me somehow. She was a damn good fighter, if it wasn't for you, I think she would have taken me."

Nick winced at the thought of it. He remembered the moment he saw Hilde on top of her, forcing the knife towards Harriet's chest. _It didn't happen. It didn't happen,_ Nick reassured himself. Harriet reached into her backpack and grabbed a bottle of water for Nick, "you know… for the vomit."

"I'm so embarrassed! Who barfs like that?" Nick said, feeling mortified.

"Of course you vomited, you have a concussion! You're extremely hard on yourself you know that?" said Harriet, handing him the water. Nick took a mouthful, swilled it around his mouth and spat it out to the side. He then took a few gulps and splashed some water on his face.

"You saved me again Nick, if you hadn't shot her in the foot—"

"I was scared I was going to shoot both of you," he said.

"And rightly so! With a blow to the head like that, I'm surprised you could see at all! You'll be fine tomorrow, but you need to stay awake tonight," she said. Nick didn't like the idea; all he wanted to do was sleep.

"How am I going to do that?" he asked.

"I'll keep you awake," said Harriet. Nick immediately thought of last night, and started to feel turned on despite his splitting headache.

"Is that right?" he asked with a silly smile on his face.

Harriet gave him a gentle shove, "As fun as that would be, I meant talking. It's not exactly private anywhere here," Harriet rested her head on Nick's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. They were still outdoors, but it was quiet and private. It was a luxury that was very rare in Los Perdidos over the last few days, so Nick breathed it all in.

"When we were in the drug store back there," started Harriet, "I thought I saw you take something…"

Nick started to feel himself go red. He didn't feel like an adult right now, but a fumbling schoolboy, "yeah, I wasn't sure if I should, but I thought it was better to grab them then not…."

"So you did pick up condoms! Ha! I knew it!" she exclaimed, "ever the optimist Nick!"

Nick looked up at the sky, "this is so humiliating," he said.

"I'm just kidding," said Harriet, "as Greg would say, be prepared!"

"I didn't assume anything would happen again," Nick started again seriously, "I just saw how upset you were at the drug store, and I promised myself I wouldn't put you through that again and I—"

Nick was caught off guard when Harriet kissed him. Nick wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back, with more energy than he thought was possible after his day. Harriet's hands moved down his body towards his crotch, and Nick felt a familiar tightening of his pants.

She reached into his jeans pocket and extracted the box of condoms and the little bottle of lube.

"Lube too! Such a thoughtful gentleman," she teased, and continued to kiss him. Nick was laughing now too and kissed her back, however they heard someone approach from around the corner and reluctantly stopped touching each other.

"Nick!" said Annie, "you just refuse to die don't you."

Nick saw Harriet stash their items quickly in her backpack.

"That's right," he said, as he pulled himself off the ground and dusted himself off, "I remain, at least for now, unkillable."

"It looks like you had some help though," said Annie, gesturing towards Harriet, "Anna told us about your battle with Hilde."

"It was a tough fight, she nearly had me, but at least she won't be killing anyone else," said Harriet, "how's Anna?"

"She's cursing like crazy, but she's going to be fine. No major damage," said Annie.

"I'm going to go see how she is," Harriet stood up and started to make for the stairs that led up, to the main operations area of the communications building.

Nick stood up and turned to Annie, "how have you been? How have things been here?"

"It's a tight ship. We've got supplies, we're working on getting that footage to a contact of mine who can get it out to the general public, but we're no closer to finding a way out of here," Annie scowled at the ground with her arms folded.

"We might have something there," said Nick, "a friend of mine from when we were kids, Diego, he found us a plane, it needs some parts and some fuel, but it should be big enough to get us all out of here."

Annie gave one of her rare smiles, "are you for real? That's amazing Nick!" in her excitement she gave him a brief hug, and then awkwardly stepped back from him.

Nick decided to continue with his news, "the main problem is the fuel. We don't know where we are going to find enough to get us out of here. We met a guy on the road, Gary, his boss is a mob guy or something, we weren't very clear on that," Nick was gaining momentum and talking animatedly, "anyway, his boss is looking for you we think, and they said that if we hand you over they'll give us their fuel," Annie stared daggers and Nick, "which we are obviously not going to do," he continued, "we'd never do that to you, but it means he does have fuel. We'll just have to find some other way to get it. Do you know why this guy is after you?"

"No, but I've been aware for a few days now that some guy in Ingleton is after me, must be the same guy. Or, maybe I have two mortal enemies," said Annie sardonically.

"I'm not sure how you even got one?" Nick replied, at a complete loss, "doesn't it freak you out that some stranger is sending out his men to hunt you down? Gary was bringing a body to his boss to see if it was you or not."

"Well that's creepy," said Anna in her dry monotone, "honestly, I don't know what he wants me for. Best I can figure, I may have rubbed some people the wrong way who are also in the illegal Zombrex trade."

"Yeah, could be… it just seems really personal," said Nick.

"We're not going to figure it out here. Come see the operation upstairs. You'll probably want to rest, get something to eat?" she offered.

"I'm not allowed to sleep tonight," Nick said, as they made their way to the rest of the group, "I'm concussed, so Harriet's volunteered to keep me awake."

"Is that right?" said Anna, extremely suggestively, "I think she has a crush on you."

"Well I hope at least a little bit," said Nick.

Anna looked puzzled for half a moment, however their conversation was interrupted by an enthusiastic Alice. She bound towards them as they turned the corner to the main outdoor operations area and greeted Nick with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Nick! I'm so glad to see you! I've been so worried, you've been gone a full day! We thought… well… I'm loath to admit it, but I wasn't optimistic," said Alice with real feeling.

"We've had a rough 24 hours," _except last night, which was amazing,_ "but we are here. We're doing okay."

"Annie and I were just beside ourselves," said Alice, and the comment did not go unnoticed by Nick. He smiled at Annie, but she didn't see it, as she was too busy looking disinterested at the middle distance.

Alice ploughed on, "I knew Harriet would look after you. She looked so… fierce! I wouldn't want to be standing inbetween her and some Zombrex that night."

"Definitely don't mess with her, that's for sure," said Nick, as he remembered her outrage when the last vial was empty.

"So, where did you two end up holding up for the night?" Alice asked, "did you find somewhere safe?" Nick was guessing Alice used to be the neighbourhood gossip. He was sure she wasn't mean or vicious, but she seemed to like to know what was going on…

"Yeah, we uh—" Nick cleared his throat for a lump which had quickly appeared, "found our way to the Ingleton Motel and stayed there the night."

Alice was an old hand at this, and read everything she needed to know from his answer. _Jesus Christ! It's a goddamn zombie outbreak and it's turning into an episode of Melrose Place._

"Well, I'm glad you had each other," Alice finished. "I'm on watch in half an hour, so I better go touch base with Greg," she gave Nick a kiss on the cheek, "so glad to have you back."

Alice walked off to the stairs leading to the above walkway. Greg stood on watch, diligently looking through his binoculars. A small awkwardness fell between Annie and Nick.

"I'm glad she was there to help you too," said Annie, "it's not like I was any help. I left you all at the diner!"

Nick's eyebrows knitted together, "Annie, I wouldn't worry about that. You had your own Zombrex to find. We both know what it's like to be on a ticking clock," he gave her a little nudge with his elbow, "and at the diner, let's face it, if you were a betting man, you wouldn't have put your money on me."

This seemed to have cheered her up a bit and she gave a little shy smile.

"I'm Doug," said a very tall, well built white man who planted himself in front of them. His name was apparently Doug.

"Hey Doug, you were out on the supply run the night I got bitten."

"That's correct, however I can see you found yourself some Zombrex."

"Yeah… just one vial left at Ingleton, I guess I was lucky," said Nick.

"Welcome aboard," and Doug left.

Annie eyed him suspiciously, "where did you dose yourself?"

"In my arm," said Nick guiltily.

"You're a terrible liar Nick. Where's the mark?"

"It's…" he stopped; lying further wasn't going to help. He wasn't even sure why he was bothering lying, "please don't tell anyone Annie. Only you and Harry know."

"Know what?" asked Annie.

"Hey Annie, I need you to come help with this, quick. Your contact is sus on us and won't go further with reporting on the tape unless he speaks to you," said another well built man in a soft black cap.

"I'm on it!" said Annie, "we're not finished, hold that thought," and she ran up the outdoor stairs and across the upper walkway, past Alice and Greg on lookout. Annie and the man entered the upper level of the building towards the communications room.

Nick felt okay about telling Annie that he didn't need Zombrex, just uncomfortable with how they left their conversation. He made a note to speak to her again when she was done with the file. For now he was keen to see how Anna was doing. He walked in through the entrance on the ground floor to his right and saw a small group huddled around Anna who was made as comfortable as possible on the floor.

The women who first greeted them at the grate of the safe house, was finishing up with Anna's bandage. Harriet was sitting next to Anna, Doug and Dwayne were standing guard over the proceedings.

"How are you doing Anna?" Nick asked.

"Why do people keep asking me that!" snapped Anna, Nick kept quiet, feeling pretty stupid.

Anna looked over at Nick and must have had pity on him, "I'm sorry, it's just this fucking hurts and I'm trying not to think about it," she said.

"It's been cleaned, and we've got antibiotics, so it isn't serious, but you're going to be out of action for a while Anna," said the woman.

"I'll be back on the streets in a few days Lauren, just you wait," said Anna. She winced as Lauren tightened the last pass on the bandage.

"Well that's the hard part over Anna, all you need is rest now," said Lauren.

"And where am I going to rest in this place? There are no beds!"

"We've given you some pretty heavy pain killers which should be kicking in soon, we'll pop you on some blankets in the corner," said Lauren.

"Fine…" Anna turned to Harriet, "thanks for keeping my mind off things. I want to hear more about Popeye! He sounded like a wicked dog!"

"He was! You rest now, and I'll tell you about the time he saved me from some asshole kids when I was 12 later," said Harriet.

"I want a super hero dog," said Anna, as Doug lifted her to her make-shift bed in the corner.

"Popeye, huh?" asked Nick, as he offered his hands to lift Harriet off the ground.

"Yeah, he was my dog growing up. He lost his eye when he was 3, so the name Popeye kind of stuck after that," said Harriet.

"How did he loose his eye?" asked Nick.

"Do you want to go for a walk outside?" she asked.

"Sure," Nick decided to follow her lead. He grabbed some blankets on the way out, it wasn't a cold evening, but they still might need something to keep out the chill.

As they walked outside, Harriet looked around the courtyard for somewhere to sit. She walked over to the outside steps and looked over the fence to another small outdoor courtyard.

"Want to check it out?" asked Harriet.

"Sure," said Nick, and he followed her to the stairs and hopped down on top of a fixed electrical unit next to the fence and down on to the ground below.

Harriet grabbed her knife, and Nick realised they were entering an uncleared area. He felt a little stupid, as he had no weapons, so he decided to look alert and raise his fists. As he looked around, he could see the area was still part of the illegal headquarters. It had high walls and no entry points. Thankfully it also had some supplies, guns, grenades, _and FOOD._

Nick grabbed a tomato from a crate, the first fresh food he had in a while and began eating it. _I've never enjoyed a tomato this much._

He looked over at Harriet, who also seemed happy the area was secure, and she found a crate of beer, holding a bottle in each hand.

"It's not cold, but it will do!" she said excitedly as she opened the bottles over the side of a large wooden wheel in the middle of the space, which appeared to hold large lengths of communications wiring.

Nick joined her, laying a blanked down on the wheel, and taking a beer. They both sat on the wheel a while, enjoying the beer and the relative quiet. Nick dangled his legs off the edge and felt very lucky. He didn't know to whom or how to express it though.

"I'm so glad you're here Harry," said Nick, looking straight ahead, "this place is an actual nightmare, but it would be so much worse without you."

"I wasn't having a real fun time either before I stumbled across you on the freeway Nick," said Harry as she gently bumped shoulders with him. She took another long sip of her beer, "I'm glad you're here too."

Nick was completely in awe of Harriet. She was beautiful, unexplainably zombie capable and she was also a complete mystery. He felt he was getting to know her. She was kind, practical and tough, however it unnerved him that until now she had artfully dodged any questions to find out anything further about her. As they sat close to each other, quietly drinking their beers, Nick felt as though he was holding his breath. He felt her hesitate towards a story about herself and he waited in anticipation until she spoke.

"Popeye lost his eye in Willamette… back in 2006," Harriet started.

"So you were in Willamette," Nick said, he tied to make his tone casual, desperate not to scare her into silence.

"Yeah, it was awful. I only remember bits of it now, you know, the bits that really stick in your head," she took another swig of her beer and it was empty, so she stood up and grabbed another one. When she sat back down, she continued, "Dad bought Popeye when I was 6. He was a super cute mutt from the pound. Jet black, kind of lanky with floppy ears and a long nose. To me, he was the best dog in the world. I called him blacky when I was a kid."

"Blacky?" Nick said with a teasing question mark in his voice.

"Yeah, not very imaginative," replied Harriet.

She was quiet for a moment before continuing, "before we even knew about the outbreak, zombies got onto our property. I was in the yard playing and Popeye started going crazy. This… messed up looking dude started coming towards us and I completely froze. Popeye was barking madly. I had never heard him bark like that before. The zombie started to go for me, and Popeye bowled him over. I just stood there and watched as this thing started to grab at Popeye who was biting him savagely, to no affect. Somehow this thing grabbed his face and gouged his eye…"

Harriet looked so sad. Like it was all still happening in front of her. Nick and Harriet both took a drink and she continued, "that's when dad came out with his shotgun. He saved Popeye, and he got us in the car as more of them started to descend on our home. We left Willamette and dad managed to heal the wound which was Popeye's eye. He was just called Popeye after that."

"I can't believe you got out, not many did," said Nick.

"It was tough, we came across quite a few people who had been bitten. We had no idea what was happening then, but I think my dad suspected all along they were going to turn. He just, figured it out. That's when I saw my first turn."

"Were there others?"

"Quite a few," said Harriet sadly.

"I'm so sorry, Harry," Nick scratched the back of his neck as he sometimes did when he felt awkward, "is that how you know so much about zombies?"

"Partly…" she replied, Nick took her pause as a signal to grab himself another beer.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he said, sensing her hesitancy.

"No, it's okay. I just haven't really ever talked about this stuff with anyone before," Harriet sighed and continued, "after that, Dad took all our savings, which were substantial thankfully, bought a plot of land outside of town here, and… prepared."

"What do you mean prepared?" asked Nick.

"He sought of… became a doomsday prepper. You know, like those crazy guys on that reality TV show. After what we had been through, he was convinced that that would be how the world would end. We spent the next 9 years of our lives preparing for the end. I mean hard-core preparing. How to fight, what weapons to use, how to find food, make shelter… that was my education. I mean I finished high school, but I was homeschooled. It was pretty messed up actually."

"Looks like you turned out okay to me," said Nick, in the way of encouragement, "but yeah, not the most normal childhood."

"I was pretty isolated," she said, "Popeye kept me company, but you know, a kid needs human friends. Dad just didn't think any of that stuff was going to matter in the future. I think he was just doing the best he could to protect me."

"So that's how you learned to fight like you do," said Nick.

"Yep," she said, she grabbed the second blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. Nick got a little closer and wrapped the blanket around himself as well.

"Is that why you came here?" he asked.

"In a roundabout way. Dad died when I was 18, and I was at a total loss. Cancer you know? We spent our entire fucking lives preparing for a zombie apocalypse and he dies of cancer. It kind of made me think about all the things we are scared of and the things which are actually going to kill you."

"Yeah, it's true, terrified our neighbours are 'illegals' or terrorists, and statistically we are more likely to die in a car accident."

"Yeah, exactly!" she said enthusiastically, "it made me re-think everything we had been through, but I felt I could start again and start to make sense of everything," Harriet paused and her voice started to wobble as she spoke, "but then Popeye died not long after," she started to cry and made a valiant effort to suppress her tears. She looked away from Nick as she quietly choked back her sobs.

Nick got the feeling this was not something she liked feeling or talking about. That he was let in on a very private and painful part of her life. He felt privileged she would share this, and so sad for her. He wrapped his arm around her and felt her small body shake with her quietly suppressed sobs. He tried to bring her gently closer to him, and she resisted at first so he let her be. Eventually, she turn herself to him, still with her eyes fixed firmly on the ground and buried her face in his neck. Nick held her and rubbed her back for some time. She became quiet and stopped shaking. Nick continued to rub her back and kissed the top of her head.

"I didn't cry when dad went, but when Popeye died—" she took another sharp intake of breath and steadied herself, "it was just too much you know. I think that dog gave me more love than anyone else in my life after Willamette."

Nick related to that. He had been with some really nice foster families; no one had ever mistreated him. He just never felt like he was everything to someone. He found it hard to put into words when he was a kid, but as he got older he realised everyone else had parents who would love them unconditionally, never abandon them, lay down their lives for them. He had never really had that…

"Don't get me wrong, I know Dad loved me, he just kind of… turned cold after we left Willamette. And when they died, I was completely alone."

"Feeling alone can be the worst feeling there is," said Nick.

"I guess you know something about that? I'm sorry, I've been rattling on about my tale of woe, and I completely forgot that you never had a family…" said Harriet.

"That's okay," he said, with warmth.

"What was it like for you?" she asked.

No one had actually ever asked Nick. He guessed he had such a sunny disposition, people just thought he was fine and didn't really want to go there. They were half right, and he didn't know how to respond.

"My childhood wasn't horrible or anything. I was never beaten or starved. But I guess I felt pretty alone. And it wasn't as though I was unloved by my foster families," Nick looked at the ground contemplating his next words, "there was definitely something missing though," Nick finished his beer, and feeling brave he continued, "I remember this one time, I royally fucked up at school. This asshole kid was giving me shit for being a foster kid, and having a weird tattoo. It was like this kid was voicing all the horrible things I thought about myself, and when he said it, I felt it was all true. I hit him in the face, really hard," Harriet let out a bubble of laughter, "it's true," said Nick, "I broke his tooth and there was blood all over him. I was going to get expelled!"

"Shit!" said Harriet, "that kid sounds like a little prick."

"He was a little prick," said Nick light heartedly, "but the worst thing was, when I got home, I knew it wouldn't be long before my placement was over. I had a really nice family, and I really liked my new brother and sister. But after this, I could tell they no longer considered me part of the family. After a few weeks, I was moved around again," Nick took another swig of his bottle, "I always had the feeling ,that I was just one bad decision away from being rejected by everyone," as he said the words an old ugly feeling opened up inside of Nick. He hadn't felt this one in a long time. It was anger and resentment; he felt the same ugly look come across his face. He didn't want to talk about this anymore.

Harriet squeezed his thigh, with her head on his shoulder, "that's not fair."

"No," said Nick coldly, but he quickly rearranged his face and put on a more cheerful voice, "but I'm out of there now, and you never got to telling me how you wound up here?"

"I decided to go to college, would you believe?" she sounded calmer now, almost happy, "I thought it would be the best way to get a glimpse of 'normal' life."

"That's great," said Nick.

"Yeah it was, I learned a bit about the world, lived on campus, made real friends… I think it was the happiest I had ever been."

"What did you major in," Nick had never been to college, but knew this was something you asked people.

"Linguistics and philosophy at UCLA," said Harriet with a smile, "It was amazing, so interesting. I'm not really sure about my career prospects though…"

Nick laughed and kissed her cheek.

"I came here as soon as I heard about the outbreak," said Harriet, "I know how to kill zombies, and I think I can help people. I don't want to die at all, and I never would have come here if I thought I would. I would kind of like my weird life to mean something, you know?" she said.

They heard someone come out of the communications room on the top floor.

"Ugh! Come on guys! You're meant to be on look out!" said Annie. Harriet and Nick looked at each other questioningly, and Harriet wiped the tears off her face.

Annie popped her face over the fence and observed Harriet and Nick sitting with their arms around each other, "what is going on out here tonight!" she said, exasperated. She hopped over the fence onto the electrical box and walked towards the pair.

"Alice and Greg are making out up there, instead of being on lookout like they are supposed to!" she stopped her rant however and got right down to business, "we never finished our little chat Nick."

Nick looked at Harriet, who seemed puzzled so he decided to begin to clear up the confusion, "there's not much more to the story, Harriet and I went to the safe house in Ingleton to look for Zombrex, but there wasn't any. Then we kind of realised my wound was healing itself and I had no sign of infection… so… I guess I'm cured." He finished lamely.

"Or you are a cure," Annie said with seriousness, "Nick, don't you realise what this means? There is no recorded case of a person being bitten and not turning," said Annie.

Nick had not thought about it much since then. So much had happened. The dark thoughts returned. He was a tattooed orphan freak, who now mysteriously was immune to the virus. It wasn't something he wanted to think about too much.

"I guess I was lucky," he said.

"Annie's right Nick, this really means something that you are immune. I don't know what yet, but it's important," said Harriet.

Nick was a very practical person, "maybe it does, but what do we do about it now?"

"I don't know!" said Annie, "but as an infected person who has been injecting herself with Zombrex everyday for as long as she can remember, if there is a cure to this thing, I would sure love to find out."

"But who can we even talk to about this right now?" asked Harriet.

Annie sighed and threw her hands up in the air, "I don't know, but if we find anyone who can look into this for us, we have to pursue it. And you can't die Nick!"

"I'm working on that," he said, "no plans to die just yet."

"How are things going inside?" asked Harriet.

"We got the footage to a contact of mine, Frank West. He'll know how to get it out. It won't be long before people are going to start asking questions about what's happening here," said Annie.

"And it could cause retaliation," said Harriet.

"We've done well today, we've just got to focus on getting out of here now. Any ideas on getting fuel for the plane which don't involve handing me over to some creepy guy who is after me," said Annie.

"Of course we are not going to hand you over to anyone Annie, but we know they have fuel, and that's a good start," said Harriet.

"I was thinking we start by finding the parts Rhonda needs for the plane tomorrow," said Nick.

"Sounds like a good start," said Annie.

"As for now, you should probably get some sleep Harriet, I slept way more than you last night, and I might still have a concussion and should go keep myself busy."

"I feel bad and like I should protest, but I'd love to get some sleep," said Harriet.

"Me too. I've been up for a few days straight and I think I am going a little crazy," said Annie, "mind if I crash here with you Harriet? There is so much noise upstairs, it's near impossible to sleep," said Annie.

"Fine by me, there are two blankets and this place is pretty sheltered," said Harriet.

"I'll leave you guys, and go try to make myself useful. We've got a good 6 hours until sunrise, so rest up," he said.

He hopped up onto the electrical unit and over the fence. As he looked back, the two girls were finding comfortable positions to sleep in. He wanted to stay with Harriet, but knew he would just fall asleep again. He made his way back to the communications room to find something useful to do until dawn.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Nick was with Red in the communications room when the sun came up. Red was about Nick's height, although Nick could have sworn he was taller when he first saw him. He was bigger than Nick though, more muscles. He was still wearing a black t-shirt and soft black cap.

Nick had done a shift on lookout, relieving Alice and Greg who seemed keen to find somewhere private. Then he spent the rest of the night talking to Red. They discussed how to get their people out on the plane, the illegal's operation, and their preferred method for taking out zombies. The conversation became pretty testosterone heavy, and they even got to discussing girls. Red confessed that he and Annie used to have a thing, however Nick got the feeling that if he had it his way, they would still be dating. Red asked straight out if there was anything between him and Harriet, to which Nick replied there was, however was not sure what that was yet. Nick wasn't sure if he had just guessed from the way he had been talking about Harriet, or if Red was trying to find out whether he had a shot or not.

"It's all over the news now," said Red, as he watched their footage being replayed on the news for what must have been the 10th time.

"Is it going to make a difference?" asked Nick.

"Maybe not to us," said Red, "but it's important that people start asking questions. Hemlock's already spinning it into something kind of believable sounding. Last news real, he was saying Hilde was acting alone and that she has been court marshalled," Red let out a large sigh.

"I guess they'll say that they killed her and try to look like the good guys," said Nick.

Harriet and Annie walked into the communications room, both looking a little groggy.

"Morning," said Harriet, still wearing her blood covered denim shirt and carrying her backpack and weapons. Nick wondered if she ever took her backpack off, even to sleep. Then he realised he knew the answer to that question.

"How did you sleep?" Nick asked, he no longer felt so awkward or shy showing her affection in front of other people and gave her a hug and a kiss.

"Good, you know considering the sleeping conditions," she looked down at her shirt. Now that it was light, the blood was even more obvious, "I think I need a change of shirt," she said, looking down at herself.

"There's some spare clothes downstairs," said Red, "and hey, I'm Red."

"Harriet," she offered her hand and they shook.

"And thanks, to both of you," Red said looking at Harriet and Nick, "that footage is everywhere."

"What are they saying about it?" asked Annie, entering the conversation.

"Hemlock is spinning the usual shit, but not everyone is buying it," said Red, "Frank did a great job explaining the context of the outbreak, and raising suspicions. People still trust him. You were right Annie, he was the best person to get the video to."

"How do you know Frank West?" asked Nick.

"I met him a long time ago, haven't seen him for years, but I still had some contact details for him," she said. Just like Harriet used to, Nick noticed his question was skilfully dodged.

"We better get going now that the sun's up," said Harriet.

"I want to come to," said Annie.

"It's dangerous out there Annie," said Red

"I'm well aware of that Red," she said with a withering look, "come on, let's get some weapons." With that, Harriet and Anna jogged downstairs for some supplies.

Nick hesitated before he left, "hey Red, we'll look after her. She'll be back safe, you have my word."

"Appreciate it man," said Red gruffly, without turning from the computer screen, "will you be back by nightfall?"

"Yeah, we'll be back," and with that Nick left to join the others and arm up.

After a change of shirt for Harriet, and weapons resupply for all, they set out on foot to the Collectors House nearby. Harriet wanted to say goodbye to Anna before they left, but she was still passed out in the corner under a mountain of blankets.

They walked down the stairs and to the exit, Harriet took another look around now that it was light, "there should be two exits here," she said to no one. However apparently deciding there was nothing she could do about it now, she turned to Nick.

"How's the head?" she asked.

"All better I think, just a bit of a headache," he replied.

"Here," said Annie, handing Nick a little bottle of pills, "these should do the trick."

"Thanks," said Nick as he swallowed back two and placed the rest in his jeans pocket.

They didn't have far to go, however agreed it would be safer to use the car. Nick drove and had a practice at avoiding the packs. He thought he was getting better at it. The most important thing was not to get stuck on dead bodies, or get the car stuck on anything else. He drove up the street and they all hopped out at the collector's house.

As soon as they got out, Annie and Harriet began firing and clearing a path. The group already felt like it had a rhythm. Harriet and Anna fired forward and Nick used a spiked bat he had picked up in the weapons locker to knock any down that tried to sneak up from behind.

Finding the front door locked, Nick found a way over the concrete fence and dropped into the walled garden below. _I wish I could afford a place like this,_ thought Nick. The house was large and of modern concrete construction with clean lines and open spaces. Before anyone really had a chance to admire the place, they needed to clear the area. It appeared there was a party on in the house before the outbreak and within the walls there were dozens of zombies.

Everyone switched to their firearms and got to work. They stayed in formation, with their backs to the wall and each person methodically shot each zombie in the head as they walked towards them. More zombies piled out of the house, drawn by the noise and the group took them out one by one. _I'm kind of getting the hang of this._

After they had taken down about 50 zombies, they stopped lumbering out of the house, and the area became quite.

"Time to start looking for those parts," Nick said, "I'll check the garage."

"It's probably best we don't split up," said Harriet.

"I know. I have seen horror movies before. Never split up," said Annie.

In the Garage, Nick waded through an assortment of items that appeared completely random to him. Lamps, old maps, door handles and an entire box of hinges. His search narrowed however when he found an area of the garage dedicated to spare parts.

"Got it! Here's the altimeter, Harry, your bag?" he placed the item in her backpack. After a while, he found the rudder arm, which he also placed in her bag and he decided the flywheel wouldn't fit and therefore had to carry it. He looked over at Annie, who looked bored.

"Want to look for those supplied now Annie?" Nick asked.

"Sure thing," she jogged out of the garage and a zombie they had missed lunged at her, tackling her to the ground.

"Annie!" screamed Nick, as he ran over and hauled it off her, holding back its arms. Harriet was already there with her knife and plunged it into its head. Nick let the body slump to the ground.

"You okay?" he asked. Annie looked shaken, which Nick hadn't seen before.

"Yeah. I keep forgetting I've got to be careful. Is it possible to get too used to zombies?" asked Annie.

"Definitely," said Harriet, "sometimes you get so sick of always been on guard, you just… let your guard down."

"Well, that sufficiently freaked me out," said Annie whiles wiping herself off. Harriet gently picked out a small piece of zombie meat in Annie's blonde hair, and gave the ends a little flick.

"I like the tips," said Harriet, indicating to the black tips on Annie's blond bob.

"Thanks, they're new," said Annie.

"Well you pull it off," said Harriet.

Nick felt a little out of place and he didn't know why. Should he also comment on her hair? He decided to join the conversation by saying something practical.

"I'll go in first then," Nick ventured, and walked towards the house.

"Get it!" said Harriet, and gave Nick a substantial slap on the ass.

Nick stopped short in surprise, and turned back to the girls. Both Harriet and Annie were suppressing their laughs. Harriet raised her hands up, feigning innocence, "if you don't want your butt slapped, you shouldn't be wearing jeans two sizes too small for you."

Nick looked down at his jeans self-consciously, they were pretty tight around his legs, "they were the only ones left in the locker," he thought it better to have fun with it and did some lunges to stretch them out. This only made Annie laugh harder.

"Come on," said Annie, and gave Nick a little push to put him off balance. Nick wobbled, however caught his balance and made his way to the glass porch sliding door and entered the home. He stood in the entranceway and had a look at the large open space and double height ceiling of the open plan kitchen and living area.

"Damn this is a nice house," he exclaimed, "we should set-up a safe house here!"

Annie started picking up packaged food items, and opened up a packet of chips for herself and wolfed them down. Harriet shoved some food in her pack and made her way upstairs.

"I'll help," said Nick and followed her.

Nick did a sweep of two of the bedrooms and found a handgun, which he was very happy with. He met up with Harriet who was rummaging through the closet.

"This looks more your size," said Harriet, holding up a pair of skinny, flared disco pants. She advanced on Nick, holding the waistband up to his hips to measure.

"No way!" said Nick, holding up his hands, "I'd rather keep the tight jeans!"

As Harriet got closer, she noticed the gun tucked in to the front of his pants. She reached her hand towards the gun and slowly pulled it out.

"Is this for me?" she asked, with a wide smile.

Nick pressed himself against Harriet, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissed her. Harriet responded, feeling his chest with both her hands and then pushed him.

Nick fell backwards, however didn't hit the ground, he landed on the bed, which he now discovered had been behind him, with his legs dangling towards the ground. Harriet hopped on top of him and continued to kiss Nick hard. He slid his hands down her back, over her ass and thighs before he got half a second to think. He sat upright, and gently pushed Harriet back.

"Annie's, just downstairs," he whispered, "the door isn't even closed."

"So?" said Harriet, and wrapped her legs around his waist.

His brain gave up and he continued to kiss her whiles running his hand through her hair. Harriet began to kiss his neck and he closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling.

When he briefly opened his eyes, he saw Annie scurry away from the doorframe.

"Sorry," Annie mumbled, as she trailed off down the hallway.

Harriet stopped, and looked shyly over her shoulder. Nick felt guilty for some reason.

"We really should… stop. And get going, you know?" said Nick.

"Yes," said Harriet, sliding off Nick to her feet, "definitely. Sorry. Ahh…"

"No, it's just, not a great time—"

"Of course, no you're right," she said and popping the gun in her holster and making her way down the corridor.

"Sorry about that Annie," Harriet said down the stairs.

Annie sounded more awkward than Nick and Harriet combined, "no… ah, yeah, it's cool."

The incident seemed to signal that their work at the collector's house was done and they made their way back to the car.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

It was a little tricker getting back in the car, as a group of zombies had surrounded the walls, drawn by the gun fire. They sat on the fence and picked off 10 or so zombie's standing close to the car, jumped over the pack crowding towards the fence and made off in the reinforced muscle car.

On their way to South Almuda, they saw a woman standing on top of an overturned vehicle surrounded by zombies.

"Stop the car," said Harriet, Nick did as she said, and Harriet ran towards the pack before Nick and Annie had even managed to get out of the car. She had her knife and sword drawn and went at the group with her blades. She swung her sword through the head of an approaching zombie and stabbed another in the head with her left hand. She continued in this way until Annie and Nick caught up. Taking her lead and saving on bullets, Nick used his spiked bat to take any out that came at Harriet from the side.

When they had finished killing the surrounding zombies, Nick looked up at the girl on the vehicle who was holding herself and shaking badly.

"You're fine now," said Annie, "you can go."

The girls said nothing, and continued to stare at the ground shaking. Annie was a great survivor, but perhaps not the best with people.

"Hi, I'm Nick," Nick said, walking into her line of sight, "do you need help?"

Only then, did the girl seem to register their presence, "yes, my friend needs help, he's locked in there with some freak."

"We can help," said Harriet, "start from the beginning."

"The two of us were looking for supplies, and we were raiding Annie's triple x," she started, "this crazy guy wearing... this mask caught us by surprise. I managed to bolt out the door before he locked it, but he's still in there. I don't know what he's going to do…" she started to cry.

"What's your name?" asked Nick.

"Julia," she said, choking back tears.

"How long has he had him in there Julia."

"I don't know, a little under an hour I'd guess," Julia replied.

"What does he want?" asked Harriet.

Julia began to cry again, "he said he wanted to have a little fun with us. He was wearing one of those freaky S&M masks and a g-string. He had…a… set-up, some chairs and…"

"It's okay," said Nick, "we'll get him out of there, you can either stay on the car, or come with us."

She seemed to be recovering her bravery, anger replacing fear, "I'll come with you. I'm going to kill that fucker!"

"That's the spirit," said Annie, having something she could relate to.

The four of them made their way inside the sex shop. The door was locked as Julia said.

"Plan?" asked Nick, deferring to Harriet who was a good tactician.

"I'll use a grenade to blast the door. Julia, here's a handgun, your job will be to get your friend out of there whiles we distract him. We'll use the Z.A.R's, how's the ammo?" asked Harriet.

"Twenty," said Nick.

"Fifteen," said Annie.

"That should do it. Fire from the doorway, find cover and repeat. We'll have to see what we are facing when we get in there," said Harriet.

With that, the group enacted the first part of the plan. Harriet pulled the pin, set the grenade in place and they all ran out side for cover. The door blew off the hinges with the force of the grenade and they moved their way into the shop again. They slowly crept around the doorframe, which led to a large warehouse, with their weapons on the ready. They saw a man tied to a chair on a stage. It looked as though the crazy guy inside had spent his time preparing a scene. The stage was set with various apparatus, some of which Nick wasn't even sure what it was meant to do.

"ooo, lucky widdle me," said a man's voice from the walkway above. There was no clear shot, so they waited to make their move.

"I have pulled in a bumper crop today! I think I'm going to start with the cute one in tight jeans, hmmmmmm, what's your name cutie."

"Nick," he said instinctively, he had no idea what he was doing. Maybe they could talk him down?

"Don't tell him your name," said Annie, who had ducked back behind the doorframe.

"Yeah Nick, and how did you know he was talking to you, maybe he was talking to me?" said Harriet.

"You're not wearing jeans!" said Nick.

"hooo, hoooo! Now, don't fight over me girls and boys. There is _plenty_ of Dylan to go around," he stepped from out of the shadows. Dylan had straight blonde blow died hair, which was obstructed by a leather gimp mask. Other than that, he wasn't wearing much, just a leather g-string and a pink cowboy hat.

"Oh, come on!" said Annie, who seemed to find this whole situation ridiculous.

"Don't you be laughing girlie!" said Dylan, with surprising ferocity. He had a flame thrower, which he fired towards Harriet and Nick from his hips like a phallus. Nick and Harriet dove for the cover of the doorframe, and Nick could feel the heat of the flames.

"Can we kill him now," said Annie, rather bored.

"We are just going to kill him?" asked Nick

"He did just try to kill us with a penis flame thrower, and he is going to do a lot worse to the guy on stage if we don't get him. It's not like we can hand him over to the police," said Harriet. _She's got a point._

Julia was pissed, and charged around the corner with her handgun firing wildly up at Dylan. Her shots missed and he let out a jet of flame, which threatened to injure her badly.

Nick, Harriet and Annie, followed after her and fired up at Dylan who was lit up in the darkness by his flamethrower. The shots forced him to take cover, and the flamethrower ceased. The room became dark again.

Julia began untying her friend, however their group remained focused on finding Dylan. Nick heard a scuttle from atop the walkway above, they all fired a few shots, but he was gone again. Then quite descended on the room.

"ahhhhhh aye aye aye aye ahhhhhh!" screamed Dylan as he jumped from the landing above and landed directly on top of Nick, slamming him to the ground. Nick felt a gut wrenching pain in his groin as he realised Dylan was grabbing his crotch violently. Nick was terrified and paralysed with pain. Dylan had him by the throat and was licking his face wildly.

Thankfully, this did not last long, Harriet slammed him in the temple with the butt of her rifle, rendering Dylan semi-conscious.

"No," said Dylan groggily, "I wasn't finished. I think he was starting to like it."

Nick was really struggling. _I'm going to be sick_ and he rolled on his side and vomited on the floor.

Annie kicked Dylan hard in the groin, which was enough to shut him up.

Julia joined the group with her friend who looked shaken.

'What do we do with this asshole?" said Annie.

Julia stood over Dylan with her handgun and shot him in the face. Nick looked at her from where he lay on the ground and saw her face was expressionless. She stood over him for sometime without moving.

"Not so tough now!" screamed the new guy.

Nick could hear the group discussing what to do next whiles he lay in agony on the ground. They were talking about getting out of the city, introducing themselves, and how to get to the plane. Nick felt a little overlooked. He was lying next to a pile of his own sick after being molested and no one even seemed to know he was there.

Harriet knelt beside him, "here," she said, offering him a bottle of water, are you okay? That was messed up."

Nick didn't say anything for a while, he splashed water on his face, washing off Dylan's saliva, and rinsed his mouth, "I feel like I need a shower," he finally said. He tried to sit up but was struggling due to the pain in his balls.

"I can't imagine how painful that is. Have you ever been hit in the balls before?" asked Harriet.

"Once, in school. It hurts like hell, but it eventually passes."

"How about you and me stay at the Ingleton motel tonight. You can have that shower," said Harriet with a smile.

Nick smiled, despite the pain. He was able to prop himself up on one arm now. Harriet sat on the ground, avoiding the sick, and put her arm around him.

"I'd like that. It's been a rough day," he said, still cupping his crotch with one hand.

"Thank you so much man!" said the new guy, "you all got here just in time. I thought this zombie outbreak was terrifying, but it's nothing compared to what was about to happen."

"It's no problem, we weren't going to leave you in here," said Nick.

"Do you think you can walk? It's only a short drive to the plane," asked Harriet.

"Yeah, I'll have to go slow for a bit," he said.

"We've got your back Nick," said Annie. With that, the five of them got in the car, and made the short drive to the plane.

It felt good to get to the relative safety of the warehouse. Nick, who was still recovering, sat on the ground with his back against the wall.

"Oh honey, what happened?" asked Rhonda, as she sat beside him.

"Well, we got the parts, which is great, but we encountered some crazy sadist on the way who managed to jump on me and crush my balls," Nick let out a small groan as he stretched out his legs, "what's wrong with these people? Six days into a zombie outbreak and this guy is capturing and raping people," after saying out loud what had just happened, it all started to sink in and Nick felt sad.

"It sounds like it's getting worse out there. I'm sorry honey. You ah…" Rhonda looked down at his crotch region, "going to be okay?"

"Yeah, no permanent damage. I just feel… gross," he said.

"I know what you mean, when those bikers started grabbing at me, making threats… at first I felt dirty… kinda like hiding, you know? Then I just got pissed."

"We're lucky I guess," it seemed to Nick, that Rhonda had something on her mind; he decided to wait until she was out with it.

"Speaking of lucky… how are things going with Harriet?" asked Rhonda.

Nick gave a small laugh, "so we're having this conversation then."

"Come on Nick, I've known you since you were 18 and I've never seen you get lucky with the many women that came on to you in the shop. I'm curious and… I just want to know if she's good enough for you," said Rhonda.

"She's great. Let's keep in mind that I've only known her 3 days, but… she's smart, she's brave, she's kind. When I got bitten, she stayed with me," Rhonda winced at this comment, "I didn't say that to make you feel bad, we needed to split up, but I also needed someone. I thought I was going to die. She hauled me through a hoard of zombies to get me to some Zombrex. You should have seen how mad she got when she thought there was no Zombrex left and I was going to turn."

"Got some temper then huh?" Rhonda asked.

"I don't think so. I think she just felt helpless," Nick paused and looked over at the rest of their group. Harriet was talking animatedly with Dick, who still seemed quite enamoured with her, "she's… really pretty too…"

Rhonda giggled, "ah, young love," she said teasingly, "god I miss it! I remember when I first got together with my ex. Couldn't keep our hands off each other, he was a wrestler and his muscles used to drive me crazy!"

"geez, Rhonda!" said Nick.

"Hey! You think you're the only one who has ever felt what you feel? I was young once, and let me remind you I'm not that old!"

"Sorry, it's just… this isn't something we have ever really talked about before," said Nick.

"I still think about him a lot. In fact since the outbreak, I think about him all the time. I miss him and I regret how I let resentment ruin what we had. He's in this city right now. I keep wondering if he is alive… I just want to see him again," said Rhonda.

Rhonda seemed different to Nick right now, softer.

"What was he like?"

"Not tall, but thick set, muscled. Brown hair, hands like slabs of meat. He was a tough guy, but really sweet. Treated me right you know?" said Rhonda.

"What happened?" asked Nick.

"What always happens. Not very original. Once his wrestling career ended, he went through a rough time. Had no idea what to do with himself. We lost our house when we couldn't keep up the mortgage, we started to resent each other instead of being grateful for what we had. He took this low life job as hired muscle for a crook. Things just kind of fell apart after that."

Nick started to get a crazy thought, "what was his name?"

"Gary. My beautiful Gary." Rhonda started to cry suddenly, which took Nick by surprise. But he was distracted by the idea that he had met her ex-husband yesterday at the Diamond Panty.

"Rhonda," said Nick seriously, he looked her in the eye to get her attention, "I met a man named Gary yesterday. He was the man I met at The Diamond Panty, who worked for some guy who was looking for Annie. He is our contact for the fuel. Do you think it could be him?"

Rhonda stopped crying and she had Nick's full attention, "Nick!" she exclaimed, "it's him, I know it! His boss used to work out of The Diamond Panty! Oh my god! I have to go to him!"

"Hold up! It might not be him. And it's not safe out there!" Nick exclaimed.

"Oh come on Nick, you think that's going to stop me!" she said.

"And… we need the plane fixed if we are going to survive," said Nick. This gave Rhonda pause. She was sensible to her core.

"I'm going Nick. You can't stop me. But you're right; I'll finish the plane and then go over to see if it's him. If it is, I bet I can negotiate for that fuel better than your girlfriend."

"Well… she's technically not my girlfriend… we haven't really talked about anything like that," said Nick.

"I'm going to go tell the others," she said, as she stood up.

Nick grabbed her arm before she could walk off, "don't let the new people know too much about what we're doing. We've only just met them. If you go tomorrow, take Dick and the key to the plane."

"You're beginning to be quite the apocalypse survivor Nick," she said.

"I'm learning," he said.

Rhonda walked over to Dick, Harriet and Annie and was presumably telling them about her plan to reunite with Gary and get some fuel. Nick let it sink in that things were going to be okay. Rhonda would fix the plane and get some fuel. He and Harriet would stay the night at the motel again. With any luck they would all get out of the city in a few days.

Harriet came over and sat next to Nick, "I just heard about Rhonda and Gary! Isn't that great!" Nick felt hopeful and happy, and before thinking too much, he leaned in and kissed Harriet.

She smiled, "what's going on in that head of yours?" she asked.

"Nothing. I'm just happy," he said simply.

"It's not over yet you know… I don't mean to be a downer, but we've still got to survive the zombies, special ops and not to mention these new crazies which keep popping up all over the place."

"I know, I'm just hopeful for now," he paused and held her hand. Still looking at the ground he asked, "do you think we'll still get to stay at the motel tonight?"

"I hope so. We should see Annie back to the safe house in Central first, pick up some more weapons at the police station in central, but then…. yeah," she smiled a big grin.

"I think I'm ready to move around now, want to get going? I'd like to see how Anna is doing too," said Nick.

"Me too! I've been thinking about her today. Let's grab Annie and head out," said Harriet.

Nick and Harriet stood up and Nick realised his pain had eased. They walked over to the group who were talking away.

"I thought I was a gonner," said Eric, "I've never felt sure that I was going to meet a horrible end, and this is three days into a zombie outbreak! I'm just lucky that these guys showed up."

"Hey Nick," said Dick, "I heard you had a close encounter of the freaky kind," Nick reflected that Dick really didn't have a lot of tact.

"It was fucked up!" said Nick.

"Sorry Nick," said Annie suppressing a laugh, "I know you got hurt, but it was almost funny when he came screaming from above, with what was one of the stupidest battle plans I've ever seen," said Annie. She then did a fairly accurate impression of Dylan's battle cry as he leapt on top of Nick, "aaaaaaaaah aye aye aye!"

Everyone was laughing in the group now, except for Julia.

"It wasn't so funny when I shot him in the face," said Julia with a deadpan expression. The group fell quiet and no one met each others eye.

"No, it wasn't," said Harriet with kindness, "we know why you did it though."

"We'll get going," said Annie.

"We'll meet you at the diamond panty tomorrow Rhonda, okay?" said Nick.

"Sure thing honey," and she gave him her trademark warm hug, "be safe, you here me? No risks! We're almost there."

Harriet, Annie and Nick, made their way to the car and headed to the police station to re-stock their weapons supplies. Everything was starting to work in their favour. Harriet quickly took down zombies in their path, and Nick was getting better with his spiked bat. The armoury still had plenty of Z.A.R's, so they decided to take two each, along with some flash grenades, flare guns and riot gear.

Not being in the same kind of hurry they were the night prior, Harriet took the safer route around the overpass to Central rather than flying over the top, which would risk damaging the car. They found the rollerhawg right where they left it.

"Stop the car," said Nick, "I'll meet you back at the safe house, I'm going to take the rollerhawg."

"Good plan, then we'll have two reinforced vehicles. I kept the key, it's in the side pocket of my backpack," said Harriet.

Nick quickly found the key and made his way towards the monstrous steamroller bike. When he started up the engine, he knew it was worth the small risk. The bike had a lot of grunt and had huge clearing power. He drove in front of the reinforced muscle car, clearing a path. It wasn't long before they pulled up the safe house.

Nick new immediately that something was wrong. The door was wide open and there was no one on look out. He waited for Harriet and Annie before proceeding inside.

"Oh shit!" said Annie, "they've been raided."

"By who, Special Ops?" asked Harriet.

"It will be retaliation for the video. It seems quiet, they must have left by now," said Annie.

They slowly made their way inside the compound and stood in the courtyard. There were a few empty shells and a few bodies of fallen Special Ops. But all the survivors were gone.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Nick could see evidence of the attack everywhere he looked. All the doors had been left open, there were over turned drums, discarded shells, and a few empty flash grenades, but no bodies. He had no idea what to do and struggled to kick his brain into gear. No bodies were a good sign; his friends may not be dead. He looked over at Annie, and could see she was freaking the fuck out. She had always seemed so collected, but now she was beginning to breath heavily, grabbing her head with both hands and looking around the grounds wildly.

"Annie, we need to keep it together," said Nick as he approached her, "there are no bodies, so your friends may still be alive." _Our friends. Alice and Greg. Dwayne. Anna!_ He swallowed a bubble of panic.

"Why would they do that, why wouldn't they just kill them! This doesn't make any sense," said Annie, sounding increasingly panicked.

Nick gingerly put a hand on her shoulder, and Annie shrugged it off fiercely, "this isn't what they do. They've been killing survivors, why take prisoners now."

"Information," said Harriet, "they're trying to find something," Harriet walked in front of Annie and made eye contact with her, as if to bring her out of where ever she was going, "Annie, this is good. They are holding them somewhere, and that means we can get them out."

Annie seemed to start computing the facts and began to calm herself down. She was still sad however, and turned away from Nick and Harriet, wiping her eyes with her sleeve, "let's search the place. See if we can find anything," said Annie, and with that, she walked towards the lower entrance to the building.

Nick followed quickly behind her, on alert in case any of the dead had wondered in. They quietly walked inside and couldn't hear anything. Nick looked to his left and saw a small body on the ground, wrapped in blankets and wearing a blue hoodie.

"Oh god! Anna!" Nick said, as he ran and knelt by her side.

She sat bolt upright, scaring the shit out of Nick, "Nick!" she exclaimed, "Oh, thank God! I was keeping quiet because I thought you were more of the special ops."

Nick gave her a hug, "I thought you were dead!"

"I was playing dead convincingly then," said Anna. Harriet walked in and registered the scene, giving Anna a wide genuine smile. She then quickly moved up the corridor, presumably to clear the area.

"What happened here?" asked Annie gravely.

"Special Ops stormed the place," said Anna, "We didn't have much time to put up a proper fight, and they started taking everyone away. Doug found me before they broke through the door, he told me to lie still, listen to everything that was said. With my leg bleeding, and wrapped in the blankets, I must have looked dead."

"Doug asked, where they were taking him, and they kept on asking if they had seen anyone with a number tattooed on their neck. He either never registered they were after you Nick, or he refused to give you up. They gave him a good punch in the stomach, but nothing worse. Doug asked what they wanted, and they asked him again if he had seen anyone with the tattoo. They even promised a reward," Anna reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out an A4 sheet of paper, "here."

Nick looked down at the flyer, and saw a drawing of a face in profile. It was a blank face, like that of a mannequin. On the side of its neck were two hash tags and a note explaining that the government were searching for anyone with a number, any number, tattooed on their neck.

"So they don't know my face," Nick paused and examined the flyer again, absorbing the enormity of what he was reading, "All of this… it's because they are after me and Diego?" asked Nick. His mind was whirring. _Why me?_ And then he thought of his immunity. _How could they know I am immune?_

Harriet walked back into the room, "all clear. Anna, thank God!" she knelt down beside her and gave her a hug. She looked over at Nick who was silently staring at the flyer. She gently took it off him and looked at it intently.

"Anything you're not telling us Nick?" asked Anna, still sitting on the ground.

"No, I swear. I don't know what they want from me!" said Nick. Anna said nothing but gave him a questioning look.

"Okay, the only thing I can think of is… I didn't get Zombrex the other night. There was none left at the Ingleton Motel, and by that stage, Harriet realised I had no sign of infection and my wound had started to heal itself," he showed her the bite wound, which was indeed healing nicely, "but that tattoo has been on my neck as long as I can remember, and I have no idea if it has anything to do with that."

"You said they are looking for you and Diego. Is that the guy who found the plan?" said Annie.

"Yeah, he and I did the same foster home circuit growing up and he also has a number on his neck," said Nick.

"So let's see, two orphans, both branded and one immune to the zombie virus without explanation," said Annie sardonically, "and now the government is desperately searching for you. It's all starting to add up to something."

That old ugly feeling started to bubble up again in Nick's chest. It felt like anger, but he thought it was a bit more than that. Nick the unloved, fucked up freak.

"We don't know what it adds up to though Annie," said Harriet, "and it doesn't change anything. We still need to find out where our friends are, and we need to make sure they don't get their hands on Nick," said Harriet rather fiercely.

"Give me a look at that flyer," said Annie. Harriet handed it over.

Annie whistled, "Five million dollars reward, that's a lot of money Nick! You better watch yourself, a lot of people would do more than kill for that kind of money," she looked back down at the flyer, "well this is idiotic, along with a number to call to provide information, they say if you can't get a working line you can provide information in person at the Ingleton Taxi Company," she handed the flyer back to Nick, "I bet that's where they are keeping them."

"How long ago did they leave, Anna?" asked Nick.

"About 45 minutes," said Anna.

Nick knew they needed a plan, but couldn't think of anything that would ensure they were all going to be safe. Storming a secure special ops area would mean people dying. If not there own lives, at the least they would have to kill the special ops forces. This felt different from killing bikers who decided to take prisoners for fun. However he knew they would kill his friends if he didn't find them. They would then come for him. A survival instinct coupled with moral relativism settled within him.

"I'll pretend I'm a prisoner," said Nick, with a new form of grim determination, "say you want the reward, bind my hands, and that will get us into the compound."

"It's dangerous," said Harriet.

"But it will give us a chance to catch them off guard," said Annie, "they are desperately searching for tattooed necks, and if we show up with one, that will give them pause. It's better than trying to shoot our way in. And from what I have seen of the taxi dispatch, that gate will be difficult to get open, and from my scouting, I haven't been able to see a better way in."

"I think it's our best shot, and anything we try is going to be a risk," said Nick.

Harriet thought this through, her logic always seemed to override her emotions where it counted, "I don't like it, but it could be a good enough Trojan horse. Annie, are there any vantage points to the taxi dispatch."

"Yeah, a perfect one," said Annie, "The roof across the road is high enough to see in, but a billboard obscures the view of the roof. We could scout from up there and make a plan. It's getting dark though, which could work for or against us."

"Okay," said Harriet, "Anna, we need to get you to a safe place. This isn't safe anymore, without the defences; the dead could walk in at anytime. We need to get you to the plane."

"I know where it is, I can take her there," said Annie.

"Okay, we'll load up on weapons here. Nick and I will take the roller bike to the roof across the road from the taxi dispatch. Annie, you take Anna to the plane–"

"I'm not staying behind like some lame duck!" said Anna.

"I'm not hearing any of it Anna! This is too important," said Harriet with authority.

"Alright…" said Anna, reluctantly.

"What about me?" asked Annie.

"Take Anna in the muscle car and meet us on top of the roof so we can refine our plan," said Harriet, "any questions?"

"Yeah," asked Nick, "what are we doing again?"

"At this stage, we are loading up, getting Anna safe, meeting on the roof…. and then… deciding on the next plan of action," said Harriet.

"Oh, okay," said Nick, sounding less sure.

With that, they all loaded up on supplies from the weapons locker, grabbed something to eat, Anna and Annie headed off in the muscle car and Nick and Harriet hopped on the bike.

"Can I drive?" asked Nick, "I really wanted to give it a go last time, but my hand had just been bitten."

"Go ahead," said Harriet with a smile, "let's see what you got," she said as she gave Nick's butt a slap as he hopped onto the rollerhawg.

"Okay, this is cool," said Nick as he hopped onto the bike and Harriet sat behind him, "what does this do?" said Nick as he reached for a button on the left hand side.

A jet of flame spewed forth from the vehicle, and as he released the button the flames ceased, "Oh! So that's how he did it."

"Perfect for getting to the compound, especially as it's getting dark" said Harriet in his ear, "but maybe lay off as we approach."

Nick and Harriet roared westward to Ingleton. The rollerhawg made the perfect zombie apocalypse vehicle, both burning and rolling down any zombies in their way. Nick had to admit that he was having a good time as they went. The vehicle felt unstoppable. It mowed down scores of zombies in their way, and shot a jet of flames at any cars or flammable drums in their way.

Nick used the back streets to find his way to the rooftop across from the compound. They hopped off the bike and made their way to the roof to wait for Annie.

"What do we do now?" said Nick, peering over the edge to get a lay of the land. He could see two special ops guys on the outside of the fence. Their job seemed to be to hold back the zombies who were getting too close to the fence, which seemed to be a lot of them. There were several snipers holding positions on top of the roofs.

"See the electrified holding pen to the right," she indicated to Nick a large fenced area elevated from the ground, "that is probably where they are holding them. If we can take out the electrical supply, that should work to get into the holding pen and get them out."

"What about getting in to the compound?" asked Nick.

"Did you mean what you said about willing to be a prisoner?" asked Harriet.

"Yes," said Nick, feeling less sure.

"I can bind your hands with a knot that looks secure, but if you tug on one cord, the bind will come undone. Once they let us inside, we'll have to fight our way through."

Nick steeled himself for what was to come, "if there is no other way," he was more concerned about the possibility of killing other people than he was for his own safety. "What about Annie?"

"We can't wait for her. It won't be long before they start torturing our friends for information. It will only be a matter of time before they give you up. They are good people, but that doesn't mean they won't talk under pressure."

Nick knew what she was saying ways right, but still didn't feel like they had the most airtight plan, "when do we start shooting? Do we need to take weapons?"

"Yes. Definitely," Harriet said, "hide a Z.A.R in your pants behind your back. I think our ruse will only last as long as it takes to get the gate open. We can't go in unarmed, and they will search us as soon as we enter the compound. As soon as they get close enough, we'll make our move. If they get the chance to take us prisoner, I suspect they will separate us, taking me for further questioning and then take you off for…. whatever."

"What do you mean 'whatever'" said Nick.

"What do you think they want you for, Nick? Most likely experimentation," Harriet reached into her backpack for some rope and a gun. She shoved a Z.A.R down the back of Nick's pants and began to bind his hands behind his back with rope.

"Remember, this is not a real knot, pull this section of rope, and it will come undone," said Harriet, "speaking of real, you know I really care about you Nick," said Harriet. She held his thigh and looked intently into his eye as if to gauge his response.

He looked into her bright violet eyes, "I care about you too Harriet. More than I have–"

Harriet cracked him across the nose with the butt of her gun, and blood spurted from his face in a way he never thought was possible.

"Fuck!" he said. He couldn't grab his face, as his hands were tied behind his back. Blood continued to spout from his nose.

"We need this to look real, or else we, and everyone else, is dead. Sorry, I thought a surprise hit would be better…" Harriet looked a little horrified at the mess she had made.

"Oh…" Nick made a strange sound from his throat as he tried to clear the blood, which was running down his face, "okday" he said, through blocked nose.

"We'll go towards the fence, I'll announce you as my prisoner. Hopefully they will open the gate, and then… we'll see."

"Hey guys!" said Annie, popping her head up as she jumped onto the flat rooftop.

"Jesus!" said Harriet, who looked truly startled.

"Sorry," said Annie, "what the fuck happened to Nick?" said Annie.

"She hin me," said Nick, his nose still blocked with blood.

"I won't ask," said Annie, "what can I do?"

"Cover us if we need it from up here," said Harriet, "there are snipers on the rooftops. When we look like we need an exit, drive the muscle car into the compound and get us out. I'll try to jam the gate to keep it open."

"Done," said Annie. Annie cocked her head and looked at Nick appraisingly, "you look pretty bad ass Nick."

Nick spoiled the effect by grinning appreciatively, with blood covering his teeth, "danks," he replied.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Harriet pushed the begrudging Nick towards the compound fence. Nick felt helpless, and all he could do was hope like hell this horrible plan would work.

"Stop!" screamed the special ops by the door, "state your business."

"I've got what you're looking for. He's got a number tattooed on his neck," said Harriet, with a raised voice. She had Nick at gunpoint, and yanked his neck back revealing his number 12 tattoo clearly to the guards.

"Wait there!" he said as he talked into the walkie-talkie on his shoulder. After a few minutes of talking and looking back to his team on the roof, he barked some more orders, "Miss, you need to lower your weapon and put your hands in the air. Then you can both approach the gate."

Harriet's Z.A.R was on a strap and she let it drop to her side and put her hands up in the air. The gate began to roll sideways to allow them entry. Nick was getting extremely nervous. They were approaching the guards, who were sure to find the weapon behind Nick's back if they got the chance to search them. He didn't know when to strike, so as always with their relationship, Nick took Harriet's lead.

There were three guards by the gate, one operating the gate at a control panel and the other two aiming their weapons at Harriet and Nick. Nick knew there were at least two snipers on the roof and probably a dozen or more other special ops forces in the compound.

As they walked through the gate, and were within arms reach of the soldiers, the one opposite Harriet lowered his weapon to search her and the other opposite Nick kept his weapon aimed squarely at Nick's chest.

Harriet, as always, moved quickly. As the guard went to remove the gun from around her right shoulder, she grabbed him by the shoulders with both hands and pulled him in for the mother of all knees to the groin. The guard opposite Nick reacted quickly too, and aimed his weapon at Harriet to fire. However, in the time it took him to move the direction of his gun, she threw the injured guard towards him. The guard's first shot hit the other guard in the back and Harriet lunged at the two of them.

Nick had jolted himself into action from the moment she kneed the first guard in the groin. He tugged on the loose cord and the knot binding his hands behind his back came free. He pulled his Z.A.R from behind his back and shot the guard at the panel before he had a chance to fire on them.

Nick was concerned about the snipers, and aimed his gun at the roof. Before he had a chance to fire a shot, he saw the last of the two snipers being shot and falling over the edge of the building. _Good work Annie._

After finishing off the guard on the ground, Harriet smashed the panel operating the fence, allowing it to remain open. They bolted towards the ground floor entrance of the building leading to the electrified area. More special ops forces started to appear from various buildings in the compound, and Nick knew they needed to get inside quick before they were discovered. As they ducked behind some sandbags covering the buildings entrance, Harriet used the swipe card she had taken off a dead guard to gain entrance.

"I'm in, let's move," said Harriet quietly. Nick followed her into the building. They moved their way quickly to the floor above and paused at the doorway to what looked to be the command centre.

Harriet held up her hand at Nick, indicating for him to wait. He struggled to calm his breathing and began to try to listen to what Harriet was straining at the door to hear.

"I've given you more than enough time Marion! If we can't find the orphan, we need to move ahead with our plan and destroy the city. Every day we wait we risk a leak to the public," said a man's voice. It sounded as though it was coming through a speaker.

"Our plan! What about _my_ plan! Finding the orphan is our number one priority!" said a tough and angry female voice.

"It's a fools errand Marion, it's pointless."

"It's everything!" screamed Marion, she calmed herself and continued, "I just need more time. A few more days."

"Fine," said the man through the speaker, "but only because I enjoy indulging you, Marion. A few days won't matter. And besides, the mutants with deactivated chips… they are very interesting…" he continued to talk with fervour, as if to himself, "something about the radioactive material we used to deactivate the chips has made them… special… if we could weaponise this royal jelly they ooze—"

"Enough! I'm sick of your small ideas and short-term thinking! The orphan is the key. We are not doing all this to get some stupid new weapon!" shouted Marion.

"As you wish, Marion. But first we need to deal with Madame President," said the man from the speaker.

"Finally, something we can agree on," said Marion, "the vision of a zombified president should be enough to scare the masses sufficiently into being chipped. Bring her in."

They heard a commotion as more people entered the room. Harriet risked gently turning the handle, and very quietly opening the door a crack. Nick couldn't see much, but could see the president being pulled inside, and being held down by two special ops forces.

"Get the parasites," Marion said.

Nick watched in horror as the president struggled on the ground, whiles one special ops began to put on gloves, and reach for a box with an ominous looking hazard sign on the side.

"We have to do something now," said Nick, very quietly, "how many."

"I can't be sure, I think three armed inside, and the woman. The man's voice is coming from the videoconference. It's hemlock."

"Count of three?" said Nick, with a comical question mark on his face.

Harriet took a long steady breath, "one… two… three —"

Harriet pushed the door open and fired two expert shots at the special ops guys holding down the president, whiles Nick fired at the man with the gloves about to open the biohazard box. He aimed his weapon and the videoconference equipment, and before firing, he could have sworn Hemlock was looking directly at him. BOOM! He fired at the camera and the screen before Hemlock had a chance to see anymore of him.

Harriet rounded her weapon on Marion, "where have you taken them!" she screamed. Marion was dressed in a smart red suit, with gray hair and sitting in a wheelchair.

"Who?" asked Marion.

"We're not playing!" said Harriet as she approached Marion threateningly. Nick took the opportunity to pick the President off the ground and see if she was okay.

"Outside," said Marion, with resignation, not fear.

"The power supply?" asked Harriet, with a calm that Nick could not comprehend.

Marion pointed out the window to a large generator.

"Leave her," said Nick, not having the heart to see an unarmed, older woman in a wheelchair being shot.

Harriet stepped her right foot towards Marion in the chair, and whiles still holding her Z.A.R, swung her right elbow in a sideways arc, smacking Marion in the temple. This snapped her head to the side, rendering her unconscious.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Nick asked the president.

She seemed shocked, but trying to gather her senses, "I'm not hurt. Just… trying to figure out WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!" she screamed.

"Later. Reinforcements will be here in minutes, if not seconds. We need to get our friends and get out of here," said Harriet.

Harriet walked to the window and fired three shots at the generator, which quickly died, "I thought that would be harder..." she said.

Madame President, Nick and Harriet ran to the holding pen and all seven of their new friends were there. Red, Doug, Lauren, Alice, Greg and Dwayne, along with another women Nick had seen at the safe house before.

Harriet was cutting the cable ties binding their hands extremely quickly, "inside, grab weapons on the dead special ops," said Harriet briskly to Doug.

"Then what?" asked Doug.

"Best bet is if we all rendezvous at the plane. It's in the shipping warehouse by the docks," said Harriet.

"You've got the president?" asked Lauren.

"Saved the president," corrected Nick, "they were going to kill her!"

"We'll explain later, we've got to go," said Harriet.

"How?" asked Alice.

"Annie's outside with a car," said Harriet as she cut through the last two cable ties, "We didn't get much of a chance to make a plan. I just got as far as hitting Nick in the face and the rest of this has not been so much of a 'plan' as shooting people and hoping it works."

As Doug started to throw assault rifles to the illegals, they all heard the roar of the muscle car outside the fence.

"And I guess Annie has worked out the rest of the plan. Move!" said Harriet as they all ran downstairs and made their way to the relative safety of the sandbags. Annie drove the muscle car towards the group and shots started to rain down on her. All armed members of their gang began shooting at the rooftops and towards the few special ops forces left on the ground, providing enough cover to allow Annie to pull up safely. Nick estimated that close to half the special ops forces where dead, and the car still needed cover to get out.

"We'll stay here and cover you," said Nick, "we've got a vehicle, GO!"

The muscle car didn't fit nine people, but they made it work. If the situation weren't so dire, he would have laughed as the president clambered in the back seat and sat on Doug's lap.

Nick admired the Z.A.R's ability to hit its target despite his lack of accuracy. He took down the last of the gunmen on the rooftop, and Harriet picked off the last few on the ground, who had either died, or given up shooting.

As the car sped off, Harriet and Nick took cover across the courtyard and made their way across the compound and out the fence. Every step Nick took, he was expecting a shot in the back, which never came. He and Harriet ran across the road and towards the Rollerhawg.

"Motel?" asked Harriet.

"Motel," said Nick.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

The Rollerhawg ploughed north up the street towards the motel. Nick looked behind them every so often and thankfully they weren't being followed. He shot a jet of flame up the street to clear a path, and to see the road ahead. A large group of zombies were crowded around one of the ZDC speakers at the end of the street. It was pronouncing in a calm female voice a series of pre-recorded messages, encouraging people to get chipped, turn in infected illegals and other bullshit government propaganda. It had been droning on throughout the entire outbreak, and Nick always had an urge to shoot them down.

"Urgh! I hate those speakers," said Nick.

"At least it's keeping most of the zombies down this end of the street," said Harriet.

Nick parked the Rollerhawg haphazardly next to the large truck, which acted as an entrance to the motel. It was full dark and the zombies were alert and hungry, with glowing red eyes. _No mucking around._

Nick quickly grabbed the keys, hopped off the bike and jumped onto the hood of the truck. Harriet knifed a zombie in the head and leapt after him. Nick started to feel relatively safe again as he pulled himself up onto the roof of the truck and jumped over the balustrade on to the balcony above. He turned back to see if Harriet needed help getting up onto the roof, but she pulled herself up with more ease than Nick, so he decided she didn't need his help.

"Sweep?" asked Nick.

Harriet nodded, "I'll check the upstairs rooms are locked or cleared, you take the stairs. And Nick," she took off her backpack and pulled out a holstered knife, attached to a belt, "I picked this up for you at the safe house," she said.

Nick smiled at Harriet and then looked at the contraption curiously. It was a weapons belt, which the knife and holster could neatly clip into. Nick put on the belt, secured the holster to his right hip and then pulled out the knife for a look. It was similar to Harriet's, and had a knuckle duster grip.

"The grip helps you plunge in and pull out of the skull. Normally, knives just get stuck in their heads, if you can get them in at all. Do you like it?" she asked shyly, as if she had bought him a new shirt and she wasn't sure if she got the colour right.

"I love it!" said Nick, "I'm going to have to learn how to use it though."

"It will just take practice, which we have plenty of now. Try to go for the temple or they eyes," and with that she gave Nick a swift kiss on the cheek and took off to her right to check the rooms again.

Nick approached the stairs carefully, he turned the corner and saw one lone zombie on the ground below. As before, it couldn't climb up onto the landing, so it was struggling at Nick lamely. It was chest height to the level Nick was standing on and reaching forward towards him in vein. _The perfect test subject._

Nick walked towards the zombie and it started to growl and snarl louder at him. He knelt to the ground out of reach and drew his new knife. _God damn difficult to get the angle right._ Its arms were reaching above its head to get at Nick, partially obscuring a clear shot to the temple. Nick reached forward with his left hand and placed it towards the left side of the zombie on the ground, just out of reach. As it started to reach and grab towards his hand on the floor, he swiftly brought his knife around from the right, plunged the knife in and out with some effort.

"Nicely done!" said Harriet, from behind him.

"Jesus, you scared me!" said Nick.

"Good trick with the lure and kill. They aren't bright, that's for sure," said Harriet bluntly, "come on, the area's clear."

Nick followed her back to the motel room. It looked exactly as they had left it, which made him think no one had been here since they had spent the night. Harriet closed the door behind them, and began looking around the room for something to brace the door. Finding no chair, she strode over to the table in the middle of the room.

"Can you give me a hand?" Harriet asked.

"Of course," Nick strode over, helped Harriet lift the table off the ground and tilted the table on its side. They walked it over to the door and placed the lip of the tabletop underneath the door handle.

"Will that work?" asked Nick.

"Better than nothing," said Harriet, "don't want anyone walking in on us this time."

"Yeah," said Nick, with a small laugh.

An awkwardness descended on them as they stood looking at each other over the makeshift barricade. Nick didn't know what it was. The scenario seemed to suggest they should start tearing off each other's clothes and making love on the floor. They were alone, secure in a motel room, had just escaped death and were extremely attracted to each other…

However, Nick didn't feel light and happy… he felt relieved… and a little bit sick.

"Rough day, huh?" Nick said, realising it was a pretty lame start.

They were still standing table length distance apart. Harriet rested her hands on the edge of the table and looked up at Nick with her almost absurdly purple eyes, "Rough, but a good day. We are all alive, which is a small miracle. And we just saved the mother fucking president!" she said, with a surprised smile, "I can barely comprehend that."

"Yeah, I'm happy we are all okay," Nick paused, "I just wish we didn't have to kill all those people. Those special ops probably didn't have much of a choice, or they truly believed they are doing the right thing," he stopped, he could hear something naïve and childish in his voice.

"Those special ops were just about to kill the president!" said Harriet, "if we didn't kill them, she would be dead."

"What about the guys at the gate? They weren't hurting anyone," Nick said sadly, "maybe if they were asked to infect the president they would have said no. They could have been good people."

Harriet had nothing to say back to this. She started to study her hands.

"I felt some shock at first when we killed those bikers. But I never felt guilty afterwards," Nick paused and his voice became quieter, "I just don't think I'll ever forget the look on that guards face at the panel when I shot him."

Harriet looked up from her hands and Nick could see her eyes were shining with the start of tears, "I think I've been actively trying not to think about the people we've killed, which isn't good," Harriet walked over to Nick and buried her face in his chest, whiles wrapping her arms around his waist. Nick held her close and rubbed the back of her neck.

"I never want to become blasé about killing, but I'm scared if I feel too much, I'll loose my edge, and people I love will die," Harriet said, talking into Nick's chest.

"I guess we keep killing people when we absolutely have to," Nick said, "try to spare as many as we can, and never become numb or forget the people who we have killed," said Nick.

"What about people like Dylan?" asked Harriet.

"I have no problem killing people who squeeze my balls into oblivion," Nick said.

Harriet started to chuckle despite the dark subject matter, "true! I think it's okay if we kill serial rapists. In this context at least…"

They both stopped smiling and fell silent for a moment. Sensing that the conversation was trying to be light hearted, but failing miserably.

"I'm sorry about your nose. You still have blood all over your face," said Harriet.

Nick felt absurdly embarrassed, and covered the lower half of his face with his hands, "I'm going to take a shower. I must look hideous."

Harriet held his eyes, "you look like a brave, kind, kick-ass zombie survivalist," she moved her hands down his back, past the base of his spin and over the curve of his behind, "who looks so good in his jeans he sent a man crazy."

Nick laughed softly, and smiled at the compliment. He cupped Harriet's face and bent his head to kiss her.

"Still covered in blood," said Harriet bluntly, but not unkindly.

"Oh," he covered the lower half of his face again with his hand, "that's it, shower time," and with that, Nick grabbed a towel and went in for a shower.

His overalls were still on the floor from his last shower here. As he undressed he remembered the last time he was here and how badly he wanted to be outside watching Harry get undressed. It was only two nights ago, but it felt much, much longer. As he stepped into the shower and washed the filth of the last two days off, he realised just how tired he was. He hadn't slept since the last time he was in the motel, and was really starting to feel it. The drain was a swirl of dirt and blood.

Nick heard a knock at the door, and froze for half a second, "ah, yeah," he said, stalling for time to ensured his nether regions were clean.

"Can I come in?" asked Harriet.

Nick felt nervous, and couldn't pinpoint why. Perhaps it was because it was so bright in the bathroom, and he was so exposed. Then he had an image of showering with Harriet, and a different urge overrode all others.

"Yeah, come on in," Nick said, trying to sound casual.

Nick heard Harriet come in and leave the door open. Through the opaque shower curtain he could see her place her backpack on the ground and rummage through her bag. After a few seconds he could hear her brushing her teeth.

Nick, partially opened the curtain, keeping his crotch covered. He didn't want to be to forward, "I don't suppose you have two?" he asked.

Harriet smiled and pulled out a second toothbrush. Having a toothbrush in her mouth, she couldn't talk, so she took the toothbrush out of the packet, placed some toothpaste on the head and handed it over to Nick, "I am dying to brush my teeth. Thanks!" Nick said, as he closed the curtain and brushed his teeth in the shower.

Nick liked the familiarity. He searched his memory and tried to think if he had ever had a girl in the same room with him when he was having a shower. _I don't think so. I don't think I've even brushed my teeth in the same room as a girl since I was a kid…_

His train of thought was interrupted however; as he could see through the curtain that Harriet was getting undressed. He washed out the last suds from his hair and watched as she pulled her top off over her head and placed it on the door handle. She pulled off her shoes and pants and threw them out the door. Nick realised he had stopped moving as soon as she started getting undressed. She slipped off her bra and underwear, revealing her shadowy naked silhouette.

She didn't ask to come in; she simply opened the shower curtain and stepped inside. Her arms and face were splattered with blood, however she still managed to look sexy. Under the bright lights, Nick could see all of her, and perhaps he was biased, but he thought she was perfect.

Looking back, that's when he knew he was in love with her.

 **For the full version of this chapter, go to adult-fanfiction . org and search for Dead Rising 3: A New Player Chapter 16**

Nick woke up in the dark on the motel bed. Harriet was beside him and she appeared to have just woken up as well. Something was different.

"What's wrong?" asked Harriet.

"I don't know," Nick replied. He quickly got dressed and tried to think what it was that had woken them. There was the usual background noise they had become used to over the last few days. The constant growling of zombies, the occasional thud as they bumped into cars. But there was something else which sounded different.

Harriet got out of bed, and walked naked across the room to the curtains, "I can't see anything outside," said Harriet as she discretely looked out the window, "I should take a sweep," she finished getting dressed and picked up her weapons.

Nick got dressed too, and then helped Harriet remove the table from the front of the door, and as Harriet opened the door to go outside, Nick finally clicked as to what it was.

"The loudspeaker. The voiceover is different. Listen," said Nick.

They both listened intently to the loudspeaker, which was blaring up the road. It was much louder now, which was probably what woke them.

"It's that women's voice who was in the wheelchair back at the taxi dispatch," said Harriet, "Marian? Was that her name?" said Harriet.

Nick listened hard and could hear the following coming from the loudspeaker in Marian's voice.

"I'm speaking now directly to number 12. You know who you are. We have number 49. If you do not turn yourself in to South Almuda Train Repair by midday tomorrow, we will execute him. Then we will hunt down you, and all your illegal friends one by one. We know all their hideouts, and they will all be dead by the end of the day. There is no escaping us number 12. Unless you want number 49 and all your friends to die, turn yourself in."

The recording appeared to be on a loop and replayed repeatedly. Nick felt sick. They had Diego. How did they get him? Does that mean they have Rhonda and the others as well? He rubbed his forehead and temple with his hand, trying to comprehend what was happening.

"We'll get him out of there Nick," said Harriet, trying to bring Nick back to reality, "you know you can't go to South Almuda, it's going to be a trap, and they won't let you live."

Nick remained quiet, trying to take in what she said. He couldn't let anything happen to Diego.

"Are you listening to me Nick?" said Harriet, raising her voice slightly, "this is a trap, they want you to feel like this. They want you to feel helpless and like you have no options. They might not even have Diego."

"How else would they have his number," said Nick.

This seemed to give Harriet pause, but she ploughed on, "it could be from old files they have, video surveillance, informants, or a hundred other ways. You can't go running off like a hero to save the day here. We need to wait until sunrise and make a plan. Do you understand?"

Nick was only half listening, "yeah, I understand. What do we do?"

"I don't know yet," Harriet said and looked at her watch, "it's 2 hours until sunrise, we can't do much right now. I say we get to the plane, make a plan and infiltrate the train repair yard."

"It's too risky. I can't ask people to risk their lives to save my friend. And she said they know where they are and she'll hunt them down." Nick reasoned.

"They have been hunting down the illegals since the beginning of the outbreak," said Harriet, "nothing has changed. All that is different now, is that she knows you exist and she's found a way to lure you in. Don't take the bait Nick. We've got to keep our heads and be smart about this."

Nick's mind was reeling, "okay, so what now?"

"We get some more sleep, and then head to the warehouse first thing tomorrow morning. We gather some information and then make a plan," said Harriet.

Nick was not placated; he couldn't just go to sleep when Marian had his friend.

"Come on, Nick," said Harriet, as she closed the door and led him back to bed, "we're going to figure this out together. Together we are unstoppable. You have to trust me."

They lay back down in bed and she held Nick tight. "This is so messed up," said Nick, as he lay frozen in place.

"I know, I kind of thought we had been through enough. But we'll get through this too. We'll find Diego, if she does have him, and we'll find the fuel and get the fuck out of this fucking city."

"Okay," said Nick in a deflated voice. He wished he shared Harriet's optimism, but his mind continued to chew over the possibilities as he listened to Harriet's breathing. Eventually her breathing changed, and she fell asleep. Nick continued to think. Eyes wide open and very much still awake. His friends were in danger because of him. For some reason, Marian wanted him. So badly, that she would risk survivors knowing their plans by blaring it over the loudspeaker in order to get to him. He thought about the people whose lives he would be risking if he asked for help. He couldn't risk Diego's life, or Rhonda's, or Harriet's.

He wanted to stay here with Harriet, but he wanted to protect her now more than ever. If he turned himself in, it would give them time to get out. On some level he knew that not everyone would make it out alive, but it was much more real now. And they were all so close to making it out.

He looked over at Harriet who was breathing softly beside him. She would never let him go alone, he knew that. He brushed her hair gently from her face, "I love you," he whispered.

He felt his eyes fill up with tears, and decided he needed to leave now or he would loose his nerve. Making sure not to disturb Harriet, he quietly got out of bed, and collected his gear. Before leaving the motel alone to face Marian, he wrote out a note on a piece of paper he found in the motel room and left it on the pillow next to Harriet.

 _Harriet,_

 _By the time you read this, I would have turned myself in. I am so sorry I left like this, but I knew you would never let me go alone, and I care too much for you to put you in any more danger. As hard as it is to leave you now, I can't stand the thought of you being hurt._

 _I need you to live. Please be brave (like you always are) and help the others get out of here. I'll get to the plane if I can, but DO NOT WAIT FOR ME._

 _I can't believe I have found someone I care so much about, and how strong my feelings are after such a short amount of time. We may not see each other again, so I might as well be brave too and tell you that I love you._

 _Love Always,_

 _Nick._


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

The trip to South Almuda at night and alone was dangerous, but Nick failed to care. He walked away from the motel, and when he was a fair distance, he found an abandoned car and drove it to the train repair yard.

All the loudspeakers were still repeating the same message over and over, which was starting to drive Nick crazy. When he found a break in the zombies on the freeway, he stoped the car, stood on the hood and shot down one of the loudspeakers. He knew it didn't make a difference, but it made him feel a little better. He made it to the yard before dawn.

Nick parked his car in plane sight outside the front of the train yard. He expected this part of his journey to be harder. Begging the guards not to kill him, explaining he was number 12 and that he was expected. But no one greeted him. There were no guards on duty. The lot seemed empty.

He got out of his car, which was extremely banged up from his journey over, and walked slowly towards what looked to be an entrance. There were abandoned shipping containers littered over an expansive docking yard. He looked around and saw some stray zombies standing around the yard. Perhaps they were powering down from their night activation, however they gradually began to take notice of him as he walked towards the open warehouse.

The shambling zombies were closing in, and despite Nick knowing he was going to die and feeling hopeless about his situation, instincts took over, which he thought had been beaten out of him by now. As one male zombie in a shredded suit, with one arm partially torn away sped up towards Nick, he ducked and sprinted towards the warehouse. Another quickly cut of his path, and he gave it a wide berth as he ran toward the warehouse. He looked desperately around him for some help, an entrance, but the shipping yard appeared abandoned. He turned around and saw 12 zombies closing in on the warehouse area where he now stood. _I thought this part would be easier. I didn't even bring a weapon._

Nick's mind started to make sense of the environment. _There is no one here. Maybe it's overrun. I've got to get out._ He found a large wrench on the ground and prepared to fight his way out, but the situation seemed hopeless. He was penned in now, no ducking and weaving, and he needed to kill them all if he was going to get out. He ran to his left to get towards the side of the pack and hit two in the head with hefty swings. The third was on him in an instance, grabbing both his arms and attempting to pull him to his mouth. He had been in Los Perdidos long enough to know how to escape a grapple from one zombie. It was preoccupied with gripping Nick tight and pulling him in for a bite. Nick grounded himself, and kicked it hard in the knee, breaking its leg and bringing it to its knees. It was still trying to hold on to Nick, and because it didn't seem to have a need for self-preservation, it wasn't concerned with bracing it's landing. Nick brought his hands through the centre of the zombies arms and brought them down hard on either arm, a move he had seen Harriet do, which released it's hold before he hit it squarely in the skull. He then progressed to the 4th, 5th, 6th, and began to methodically make his way through the pack.

He heard several loud pops, and all the remaining zombies who were closing in on him dropped to the ground in a manner of seconds. Nick brought himself out of his combat mode and tried to assess what was happening.

"I've seen enough. You certainly have earned your reputation number 12," Marian was gliding forward on her automated wheelchair, and was flanked by several heavily armed special ops forces. They had quietly approached from a small door that had opened to the back of the warehouse.

"But we need to proceed with our business. I have been waiting for you with number 49. Take the prisoner," Marian commanded the special ops, and they advanced on Nick quickly. His first instinct was to fight them off, however he remembered that this was why he came. He was turning himself in.

"And my friends?" Nick asked, as he was brought to his knees and handcuffed.

"We'll leave them for now," replied Marian as she turned around and went towards the door.

"You promised. Let Diego go! Before I do this, I need to know —" and before Nick could finish his sentence he was injected in the neck. He didn't know what was happening but his mind went foggy and he couldn't speak. _Harriet was right._ Was his final thought before he blacked out.

Nick woke up slowly and blinked his foggy eyes into focus. He could see a ceiling, metal roofing. _A shed._ He thought as he continued to come round. He went to lift himself off the ground and then realised he couldn't move.

He became frantic, "shit!" he exclaimed as he looked over to his right wrist and saw he was chained to some kind of medical chair, which had been reclined into a lying position. He kicked his feet furiously, only to realise they were clamped to the chair as well by large metal binds.

"Nick, you're awake!" said a voice. Nick looked over to his left and saw Diego, similarly clamped down to an elevated dentists chair.

"Diego! Jesus, what's happening, tell me quick!" said Nick.

"How did they get you man! We are so screwed!" Diego was sweating and was close to panic, "I went back to the museum. I was going crazy thinking about how I let the President down and I wanted to see if I could make things right. I was surrounded by the special ops whiles I was in the museum, and I woke up here. Oh Man!"

"Were you alone when they took you?" asked Nick.

"Yeah."

"How long have you been here?" asked Nick.

"I don't know how long I've been out for man! Maybe a day?" Diego was confused and was looking towards his wristbands desperately, as if he could will them to come off with his mind.

"Do you know what they want from us?" Nick was desperate to find answers, and he needed them fast before anyone could come into the room.

"They haven't said anything. But I've had some time to think. I think they want to experiment on us Nick! Because of our tattoos! They keep calling me number 49!" said Diego as the pitch of his voice began to increase.

"We've got to stay calm. We're still alive. They need us for something. Maybe they just need to take some samples," even as Nick said the words, he knew they weren't true. He looked to the equipment around the room, and saw what can only be described as a ray gun the size of a truck pointing in their direction.

"There's something else man," said Diego, "when I was in the museum, I saw something that really freaked me out!" He paused, and had Nick's full attention.

"The museum has a history of the zombie outbreaks, everything. It has pictures of Carlito Keys, who brought the parasite back from Central America. Frank West, who covered the story, Chuck Greene from the last major outbreak," said Diego as he began to rattle off the history of zombies.

"We know all this Diego," said Nick, feeling himself getting frustrated.

"But they had a picture of patient zero, a guy they thought started one of the minor outbreaks. He had a tattoo on his neck man! Just like ours!" Diego finished. Nick couldn't breathe. That old ugly feeling. There was something wrong with him. And now he was a rat in a lab, waiting for people to examine him, to find out once and for all what was wrong with him.

"I see our patients are awake!" said Marian's voice over a loudspeaker in the experimentation room. Three men in white lab coats and protective headwear entered the room and began working on the computing equipment hooked up to the ray gun.

"Marian!" screamed Nick, as he strained against the metal bracelets, "if you don't stop this right now, I swear to god, I'm going to rip your damn head off!"

"That's not going to happen Nick," said Marian. Nick swivelled his head behind him and saw a glass viewing window above the room they were in, with Marian sitting calmly behind it.

"Besides, humanity is going to thank us all for what we do here today. Begin the experiment!" she exclaimed suddenly, with a fervour in her voice which bordered on religious.

"Nooooo! Arghhh!" screamed Diego, as the ray gun in front of them hummed and vibrated to life.

"Start with the fat scared one," said Marian, "number 49, I can't stand his screaming."

"Leave him alone!" screamed Nick, as he strained against his restraints, "just tell us what you want Marian, and we can make it happen, you don't have to do this!"

Marian was no longer listening, his voice was drowned out as the laser beamed to life, and was now focusing directly on Diego's centre. Nick was horrified, but couldn't look away.

"Diego! Diego!" he kept screaming, as the laser continued to beam at his chest.

Diego's screams changed from fear to pain as his body arched and writhed on the table. He looked like an animal, pinned and tortured, as the laser continued to penetrate his body, however did not seem to pierce his skin.

Then his pain was ended nearly instantly. His final scream was choked by blood as parasites burst forth from his chest, mouth and eyes. His face appeared to explode in blood before Nick's eyes, and Nick froze in horror.

A plague of wasps issued forth from his body. The room appeared to be full of them in a matter of seconds. Nick tried to keep still and not attract them. The technicians started to panic and shoo them away.

"Continue the experiment! Now!" shouted Marian.

The ray gun began to move to Nick, and it hummed to life again whiles hovering in his direction. One of the technicians screamed and fell to the ground spasming, whiles another continued to work the machinery.

The laser shot directly into Nick and he flinched, anticipating the pain. But all he felt was a warm light and a tingling sensation throughout his body. He waited in horror for his face to explode, but nothing happened. The light continued to course through him as he heard the remaining technicians scream and fall to the ground seizing. The first technician began to slowly rise from the ground in short jagged movements. Nick could not see his face but had seen enough zombies in the last few days to recognise he had turned. The laser ceased its experiment and the beam powered down.

"We've found the orphan! We've got the cure!" screamed Marian from behind the glass.

"Marian!" screamed Nick, "Before you celebrate, I'm going to get eaten if you don't help me out here," said Nick, as the technicians began to rise and move threateningly towards him.

A door opened to his right and three special ops moved in, wearing full protective gear and shot the technicians in the head that had been turned.

"You're not dead yet number 12, we still need you," a loud whirring sound started and it felt like a wind tunnel had been formed in the experimentation room. The wasps, that were circulating around the room, were rapidly being vacuumed into the ceiling.

"Sit tight number 12. You are in for an interesting 24 hours," Marian said threateningly as she glided out of her viewing chamber, "stand guard until you receive your orders," she said as she exited her room.

The whirring of the vacuum ceased and the room fell eerily quiet. _What the fuck._ Thought Nick, as he tried to take stock of what just happened. He looked across at Diego and saw what remained of his face and body pinned to the chair. He fought the urge to vomit as he looked away. He could smell blood in the air as he furiously tried to think his way out of his situation.

 _I'm the cure. Okay. People with the tattoos are some kind of an experiment, and they were trying to find the one who was immune. Which is me. So I'm not dead. But Diego is. So I'll stay alive for a little while longer. What's going to happen to everyone else now? She didn't keep Diego alive and played my just like Harriet said she would._

His heart started to race and the blood started to feel as though it were boiling in his veins. _They killed him. These men standing in front of him watched his friend die and did nothing. Who the fuck are these people? I'll kill them all._

Nick waited for some time, and couldn't think of what to do next. Could he try to gain Marian's trust. Unlikely. Could he get out of his restraints? Could he reason with the guards? After a time, he formulated a lame plan. Wait until they unlocked his bracelets and fight his way out. He was pretty sure they weren't going to kill him because they needed him now. Maybe he could run and get away if they weren't going to shoot to kill.

The door opened to his right again and another special operations entered the room. Several shots fired together, _was this special ops on his side?_ The three armed men in front of him were shot and their weapons hit the floor. The last of the three managed to get off a few rounds before he also hit the ground. It appeared the man who recently came in, his rescuer was shot also and hit the ground.

And that's when he saw Harriet, pointing her pistol at the three men on the ground. She had used the man in uniform as a means to enter the room and then used him as a human shield. Nick was still pinned to the table, and his friend was dead, but still, he had never felt such relief.

"The first one who tells me how to undo these cuffs lives," said Harriet.

The man to Nick's right, buckled nearly instantly. Perhaps he hadn't been paid enough to tie people down and torture them, "The panel to your right, hit the green button on the left hand side," he said.

"For fuck sake Dale!" said the man on Nick's left, bleeding from his right wrist.

Harriet shot both the man on Nick's left and the man lying quietly in the middle in the head without hesitating. It was quick and brutal.

"Let's see if you are telling the truth Dale," said Harriet, as she pressed the button he indicated, whiles still holding her gun steady.

Nicks wrist and ankle cuffs came off immediately, and he leapt off the bed and stumbled to the ground as though the table had shocked him.

"Thank you Dale, you get to live," said Harriet, as she reached into her jeans pocket and withdrew a cable tie.

"Thank you," said Dale, and being smart enough, he decided to keep quiet. Harriet tied him to the chair. He was still bleeding from his arm, but it didn't look serious, and Nick thought he would be able to break the cable ties in time if he could find a sharp object.

Nick finally looked up at Harriet and could see she looked pissed. Her face was concentrated in a menacing stare, and Nick felt a thrill of fear.

"What the fuck Nick?" exclaimed Harriet as her face began to crumble, and what was a look of anger quickly dissolved into tears, "You could have died!" she ran across to him and gripped him in a fierce hug.

"I'm so sorry Harriet, I knew you wouldn't let me go, and I couldn't let anyone die because of me," Nick used the same tired argument he had in his letter, and as he said the words he felt how stupid they sounded.

"It was a trap! You played into her hands," said Harriet into his chest.

"Don't you think I know that now!" said Nick, raising his voice at Harriet for the first time, "and now Diego is dead anyway! So it was pointless, and I'm a fucking idiot!" he said.

Harriet kissed him, which he wasn't expecting. But taking this for forgiveness, he leant into her kiss and cupped her face. He didn't think his heart could take it anymore. He had been ready to die, witnessed the gruesome end of his childhood friend, and now was being kissed by the women he loved again.

"Touching number 12," said Marian's dry voice from the viewing room, "but unfortunately your girlfriend will have to die now too."

Nick felt panic rising in his throat, and looked into Harriet's eyes. However upon seeing her calm and reassuring gaze, he knew she had a plan, and all he needed to do was follow her lead. She fell to her knees.

"What does this mean Marian?" said Nick, stalling, "Why did you say I'm the cure?"

"You're cute number 12, but not very clever. I'll be famous once we synthesise a cure to the zombie infection from you," said Marian.

Harriet darted to a door to the side of the experimentation room and used a swipe card to gain an exit. Marian saw this and Nick could see fear come across her face. Marian hit a button underneath the table she was next to, which appeared to set off an alarm in the building. Red sirens began to flash and security alert sound began to blare over the speakers.

Nick ran after Harriet who was racing up the stairs to gain entrance to the viewing room above. She went to swipe her security card, however the red light on the panel went red every time she swiped, indicating she was now denied access. Nick was guessing they had attempted to convert a train yard into a secure military facility. They had all the systems in place, however the doors were not built to keep out a persistent intruder. Harriet shot out the door handle and kicked the door in.

Marian faced them square on, and did not try to bargain for her life despite being alone and being unable to walk. Harriet kept her handgun steadily aimed at Marian.

"This doesn't change anything number 12. Reinforcements are on the way and neither of you will get out alive," said Marian.

Nick strode over to Marian and felt a rage surge through him that felt like it had been building a long time. He pulled her out of her chair and Marian pulled a pistol from under her seat and aimed it at Nick's gut.

He grabbed her arm and twisted the gun out of her hand as she fell to the ground. He lunged on top of her, gripping her throat with his right hand and holding the gun to her head with his left.

"My name is Nick FUCKING Ramos," he shouted, as he pulled the trigger and blew her head apart.

He looked at what remained of her face and felt revulsion, unsure as to if it was directed at her or for what he had done.

"Let's go Nick, I've got a way out of here. We have to move now before the special ops come," said Harriet, with her firearm still at the ready.

"Number 12, please listen," said an attractive women in her 40's from the doorway they had entered through. She spoke in a South American accent and there was a genuine pleading to her voice.

Harriet rounded on her, "out of the way lady, we're not fucking around," said Harriet.

"Nick, that's what they call you now. You have to take me with you. You are the cure, I can help," exclaimed the women.

"I know you. You're Isabela Keys! You were responsible for the first outbreak," he began to advance on her, "we should kill you!" he screamed before grabbing her throat.

"No please! I can tell you everything you need to know! About who you are, where you are from, and why you are so important. Please take me with you. They'll kill me if they find out I've offered to help you," said Isabela.

Although Nick had just killed a woman 30 years his senior, who also had a disability, it didn't mean killing came easily to him. He also had a desperate need to find out where he came from, why he was immune, and what was happening to him. He didn't have a lot of time to think.

"Fine, but one false move, and Harry here will end you," he threatened, "let's go," he said, dragging her as Harriet led them to the rollerhawg.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

It was an uncomfortable ride to the warehouse with three people on the rollerhawg. Nick and Harriet didn't trust Isabela to sit behind them, but neither did they trust her to drive. So they arrived at the uncomfortable compromise of Nick driving, with Harriet sitting behind him and Isabela sitting on Nick's lap. This had Nick questioning once again why he had agreed to take Isabela with them.

All three clambered off the bike, and made their way into the warehouse. Nick closed the door to the warehouse entrance behind him, and was struck by the volume of people in their group. He walked through the office area and into the open warehouse space. He looked around and counted 12 people, not including Isabela, Harriet and himself, making the rebels a group of 15 now. He saw no sign of Rhonda and Dick. Doug, Dwayne, Red, Lauren and the president, were talking intently. Nick was dying to know how that conversation was going. What was the president making of all this?

Anna was still unable to walk, and was on the ground playing cards with the girl Nick hadn't met, along with, Eric, Julia, Alice, Greg and Annie. Nick was anxious to know how Anna was, and talked to their group first.

"How's the leg, Anna?" asked Nick.

"It hurts like hell, but I'm still kicking aren't I?" answered Anna, "they all made it out thanks to you guys." Anna replied, looking towards Nick, Harriet and Annie.

Nick felt a moment of gratitude. He couldn't believe their luck! Then he remembered Diego who hadn't made it.

"Look, we've got a lot to talk about, but first, where's Rhonda and Dick?" asked Nick, he felt a small amount of panic rise up in his throat as he said the words. They weren't at the warehouse, and Diego had been taken.

Julia took over at this point, "Rhonda and Dick left yesterday to go find Rhonda's ex-husband. For most of the night, it was just Eric and I."

"When did Diego leave?" asked Nick urgently.

Julia and Eric looked warily at each other.

"Please, I need to know!" said Nick.

Eric began, "he kindda… lost it yesterday. He was anxious… scratching himself and muttering about going AWOL and saving the president. Rhonda tried to keep him calm, but he wasn't making any sense," Eric paused, "he left by himself yesterday before dark."

"FUCK!" exclaimed Nick. He stormed over to the nearby workbench and slammed his closed fist down on the table. This got the attention of everyone in the warehouse and the room fell quiet as both groups began to merge together.

"Rhonda managed to get the plane key off him before he left. But then she and Dick left shortly after," said Julia by way of explanation.

"Yeah!?" said Nick, raising his voice, "well, Diego's dead now! So…" Nick didn't know why he was yelling at these strangers, but he was starting to feel the anger that was building in him since Diego's death.

Harriet intervened, "Nick, we need to keep it down, we can't attract the dead now. It would be suicide," she said calmly.

Nick knew she was right and tried to steady himself. He proceeded in a strained voice, "where did Dick and Rhonda go?"

"To 'The Diamond Panty'," said Julia, "to check out the fuel connection and to see if her ex Gary was there."

This was good. Diego wasn't with Dick and Rhonda, so there was a good chance he was picked up alone. They may be okay.

"I'm going to go after them," said Nick, already collecting his things.

"Nick, son!" said Dwayne, coming closer to the conversation, "let's at least have a handover first. We all need to know what is going on," Dwayne turned to Isabela and looked at her suspiciously, "for starters, who is this?"

"I am Isabela Keys," Isabela started, a murmur broke out from the crowd, so she raised her voice a little higher, "I know what you must think of me, but I'm here because I can make a cure for this disease," when the words had left her mouth, the room became quieter.

"I found her at a research facility set-up in town," said Nick, "I went there to see if I could save my friend Diego, but they did some kind of… experiment on him that killed him." Nick paused, "Harry came to bust us out, and as we were escaping, she said she has information about me, and my past, so I let her come with me," said Nick. He knew as far as excuses went it was pretty flat, but he didn't care, it was the truth.

Isabela began her story in her soft South American accent, "when I was a young women, the United States built a laboratory near my village in Santa Cabeza. They were doing research to find out how to make fat cattle to feed your fat country!" Isabela couldn't hide her anger as she said this, however she took a breath and continued calmly, "they were using the properties of a local wasp like creature called the Ampulex Compressa Giganteus, which our people had coincided peacefully with for centuries, to create a type of cattle that would fatten and mature quickly. What they discovered was the parasite that created zombification. Dr Barnaby and his team were careless in their research, and an outbreak destroyed our entire town," Isabela grew quiet, and the audience were barely breathing.

"That was the story Frank West brought to you. The lesser known story is that of the orphans," Isabela looked at Nick. He was transfixed by her story, desperate to know where he came from and what it meant. Isabella continued, "the military were allowed to take whatever they wanted from our village to assist with their research. Food, land, power… and the women as well at times," she paused again and inhaled a shaky breath before continuing. Nick couldn't believe what he was hearing, and felt sick.

"Many of the women from our village fell pregnant after they were raped. Carlito volunteered at an orphanage after the village was destroyed, which sought to look after the orphans of this terrible disaster. It was decided to send the orphans back to the country that helped create them,"

"Carlito was furious about the destruction of our village, as I was too. Your country never took responsibility for what they did until they were forced to," she paused again, "so he infected 50 orphans with the zombie virus, and slowed its course so they would not turn and become infectious until many years later,"

"But he made one of the orphans immune. Even Carlito did not want to make an epidemic that was unstoppable," she turned to Nick again and touched his arm gently, "you are that orphan Nick. When they shot that ray gun at you, the parasite should have matured, but they did not… because you are immune and you hold the key to a cure in your body."

Nick, couldn't decide which thread of her narrative he wanted to tug at first. "Why did you help them! Why did you let them experiment on us!" Nick said, raising his voice.

"I've effectively been a prisoner for the last 15 years, working for Phenotrans and the government on whatever they make me. When I realised you were escaping, I took the chance and ran," said Isabela, imploring Nick to believe her, "please Nick, you have to believe me, I desperately want to find a cure."

"Sorry, I'm just… finding this all a little hard to take…" Nick rubbed one of his hands over his face and head as if to massage it back into gear, "you're saying I was born in Santa Cabeza and my father was a rapist."

Isabela paused, and stepped forward, trying to make contact with him again, "yes, but… I'm sure your mother loved you Nick. Many of the mothers had no choice—"

Nick shrugged her hand away, "sorry, I just… need a minute…" he walked off out of the warehouse to the office area that led outside. Nick could hear the group talking animatedly in the warehouse, but he didn't care right now what happened next. He sat heavily on the couch. _What the fuck! I wanted answers, but this is fucking horrible!_

Harriet entered cautiously, gently knocking on the door frame, "can I sit with you?" she said.

"Of course," Nick said to Harriet gently.

Harriet sat beside him and didn't say anything for a little while. After a time she ventured to speak, "you know this doesn't change who you are right?"

Nick slumped to his side and rested his shoulder on Harriet's, "I've wanted to know where I came from for such a long time… but this is more than I think I can handle…"

Harriet put both of her arms around Nick and held him whiles he sat quietly and reflected on what he had heard. He rested in the crook of Harriet's neck and thought things through. _I'll hopefully have plenty of time to figure out what this means to me if I get out of Los Perdidos. Right now I have to solve the problems I have right in front of me. I may be the cure to the zombie infection, so I need to get out of here so Isabela can work on a cure for Annie, Anna, and everyone who has been or may be bitten in the future. I can think about my past later, right now I need to find Rhonda, get fuel for the plane, and get out of here._

Nick sat up and looked at Harriet. The concern on her face was plain to see, and Nick had an overwhelming urge to make her feel better.

"I'm okay," Nick said, "really. We need to keep moving and get out of here. I say we go to the Diamond Panty, find Rhonda and a way to get the fuel."

"Any ideas how we are going convince this mob boss to get us that fuel?" asked Harriet with a small smile.

"We offer _me_ up as bait this time," said Annie, as she entered the room unannounced.

"It's too dangerous Annie," said Nick, "and then after we give you up? Then what? If we try to free you we'll loose the fuel, and if we leave you there… let's just say after Isabela's story, that's just not going to happen."

"We'll figure it out as we go," Annie continued, "handing me over is just to get us in the door, then we'll meet this boss, hold him at gunpoint and force him to hand over the fuel."

Nick was quiet and remained unconvinced, Harriet was looking at the floor.

"Harry?" said Annie.

"It's not a great plan Nick, but it's the best we've got. I think we need to do it," said Harriet.

"Jesus!" said Nick, he threw his head back and ran his hands through his hair.

"It's no different to what you did Nick," said Annie, "we use me to get us in the door. And then we _negotiate_ with the boss."

"How is that any different from storming the place at gunpoint?" said Nick.

"If we turn up with Annie's hands bound, they'll probably let us in with weapons," said Harriet, "if not we'll be close enough to fight them hand to hand without killing anyone. I draw the line at killing people for fuel. Even if they are mobsters."

Nick sighed deeply, "I say we take the plan to the group and see what they say. We need to pool our resources, get weapons and ensure we all know what we are supposed to be doing."

Nick stood up and looked at both Harriet and Anna.

"Agreed," said Harriet standing from the couch.

"Yeah, I'm cool with that," said Annie.

Annie, Harriet and Nick re-entered the room, and Nick couldn't help notice that all chatter stopped, and the room went quiet. All heads in the room looked to him.

"Hi," Nick started, suddenly feeling nervous, like he was about to give a speech, "we need to get out of here, and the only thing stopping us all flying out of here right now is fuel. Rhonda and Dick left yesterday to check out a contact we met the other day, who may or may not be Rhonda's ex-husband," Nick realised the story was already becoming convoluted.

"Anyway," Nick decided to proceed with the basics, "this contact is after Annie, and we don't know why. Annie has agreed to come with us to 'The Diamond Panty' and pretend we are handing her in so we can get some more information on the fuel," the room was quiet and Nick wasn't sure what he was supposed to say next, "any questions?"

"Is that safe?" asked Alice.

"No," said Nick.

"Why don't we all storm "The Diamond Panty' with force, and steal the fuel?" asked Doug.

"These could be good people. Gary seemed like an okay kind of guy. We want to avoid killing anyone unless it is absolutely necessary," answered Nick.

Annie raised her hand like a schoolgirl in mock gesture, "yes Annie," said Nick.

"How are we going to get past the guards without killing them," asked Annie.

"I don't know," said Nick, a little exasperated.

"I have a stun gun," said the girl Nick didn't know.

"That's great! Thank you! Sorry, I don't think we've ever met," said Nick.

"I'm Winnie. Some of the protest rallies you go to get kind of rough, so I take her with me everywhere," Winnie pulled a small handheld stun gun from her back pocket, "she packs quite a punch."

Nick looked at Harriet, "this is good right?" he said her quietly.

"Yes, it's perfect," she said quietly back to him.

"Okay, Annie, Harriet and I will head off now. Gary and the two bouncers know us, so we won't raise alarm," Nick said, "the rest of you, just… hang tight until we get back and be ready to move out at any moment."

 _God. I can't believe we are doing this again._ Nick thought to himself.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

After loading up on supplies, Nick, Harriet and Annie took the Rollerhawg to 'The Diamond Panty'. Once again, it was a tight squeeze. Harriet drove with Annie on her lap and Nick riding behind them both. It was a little awkward negotiating their positioning on the drive. Annie was in danger of falling off Harriet's lap and so Nick had to wrap his arms around both of them to keep everyone in place. Annie wrapped her small hands around Nick's arms and the ride felt very… intimate.

They parked a block away from the strip club and jumped up onto a truck out of reach from the zombies. Harriet bound Annie's hands behind her back in the same way she bound Nick's.

"Just remember, pull this section of rope and the bind will come undone," said Harriet.

"Are you going to punch me in the face too?" Annie asked dryly.

"Only if you don't behave," said Harriet. Both girls laughed, but Nick either didn't get it or didn't think it was funny. Harriet grabbed the stun gun from her pack and went to tuck it into the back of Annie's pants, only to realise she was wearing a dress.

"Where can we put this thing," said Harriet, patting down her hips to try to find a pocket.

"Someone's getting handsy," said Annie. They both giggled as they struggled to find a place to put the stun gun. Nick watched as Harriet lifted up the back of Annie's short gray knitted dress and attempted to secure the stun gun in the back of her black leggings.

"That's not going to work," said Annie, as she pushed her ass out and tried to see what Harriet was doing behind her, "I'm going to get all caught up in my dress when I try to pull it out." Both girls continued to laugh loudly as they tried to solve the problem.

Nick realised he couldn't take his eyes away from the scene, and was getting turned on watching Harriet lifting up Annie's skirt and feeling around her ass. Annie turned her big, ice blue eyes on Nick, and he quickly looked away to the street up ahead whiles scratching the back of his neck, trying to look relaxed. He was expecting a cutting quip from Annie, but mercifully, she didn't say anything.

"Come on, Nick," said Harriet, "you're well versed with the female body, where can I put this thing," said Harriet, with a silly grin as she held up the stun gun.

"Ugh!" said Annie in mock disgust. She bumped Harriet with her butt in rebuke, having no hands available. They were both laughing hard now, and seemed to have become insensible.

"How about we put it inside her gloves?" said Nick, who was rather proud of himself for keeping a level head.

"Much better idea," said Harriet, as she held Annie's bound hands and slid the stun gun inside the opening of her fingerless gloves. It was a fairly obvious solution. It made Nick think why Annie and Harriet didn't think of it themselves. _Did they like fooling around with each other?_

But Nick realised, he absolutely could not think about that right now. They were about to go into a fight and he needed to concentrate.

"You girls finished fooling around there?" asked Nick.

"Alas, yes," said Harriet, with a mock sigh. She pulled a firecracker she had found earlier out of her bag, lit it up and threw it a short distance away from the truck they were standing on. Predictably, the zombies surrounding them toddled off towards the firecracker, leaving them free to jog up the street with only a few slow zombies in their way.

"God these things are dumb," said Annie.

"I know right?" said Harriet, "these things were clearly not designed through natural selection."

The trio jogged casually up the street towards 'The Diamond Panty'.

"Nick," said Harriet, "grab Annie by the back of her neck and make it look like you are pushing her along. It's more believable that you are the one physically restraining her."

"Sorry Annie," he said as he gently gripped the back of her neck and guided her up the street. As they got within sight of the strip club entrance, Annie started to protest and kick back, making noises like Nick was hurting her. Nick found the pantomime distressing, but kept it together for the sake of the ruse.

They approached the two bouncers, who were the same men at the club as last time. Nick was guessing they were light on muscle given the zombie outbreak and all.

"We think we've got the girl your boss is looking for. We want to talk with him about fuel," said Harriet. _Nice._ Nick thought. _Quick and to the point._

The bouncers seemed very relaxed and let them inside. They looked around and saw no one else in the club except Dick, who was sitting at the bar.

"Hey guys!" said Dick, cheerfully.

Annie, untied her hands discreetly and tazed the "sup" bouncer. _Good,_ thought an evil part of Nick's mind. Harriet kicked the other one in the calf and he hit the ground. She pulled out a handgun and aimed it at his head, holding her finger to her lips, indicating he should keep quiet. Nick grabbed a cable tie from his pocket and proceeded to bind the bouncers on the ground.

"What the fuck?" said Dick quietly, "I thought we were with these guys now. Gary is Rhonda's ex husband and they're off somewhere now… making up."

"We can't trust them until we know what they want with me," said Annie, "and we need that fuel badly," said Annie in a whisper.

"Stay here and keep an eye on these two," said Harriet, tossing one of the guard's guns to Dick. Dick looked confused, but seemed to resign himself to the new circumstances.

Nick pointed towards the door that Gary had gone through last time to speak to "the boss". The trio walked quietly towards the door and then paused. Annie looked at Harriet and Nick, and shrugged. No one had planned on getting this far.

Nick looked to Harriet, but she looked equally as flabbergasted at the ease of their entry and what to do from here. She gave a question mark shrug and indicated Nick should knock on the door.

Nick reached forward gingerly and gave a light rap on the door.

"Come in Goddamnit!" said an angry muffled voice on the other side of the door.

Nick reached for the door handle and turned it. _Unlocked._ He gave a brief nod to Harriet and Annie, to indicate it was go time, and then opened the door forcefully pointing his gun wildly as he opened the door. Harriet and Annie entered almost simultaneously, and Nick saw a small single office room with a desk and one man sitting behind it. He didn't look afraid, he looked curious at the guns pointed at his face. He was an athletic looking guy, maybe in his late 40's, with dark blonde hair and a black and yellow motor cycle jacket on. He made no attempt to move, he merely observed the scene.

"Dad!" said Annie.

"Katey!" said the man from behind the desk. His expression changed instantly as he broke out into teary smile. He stood up from the desk with his hands out and his palms facing upwards, "Katey, I've been looking all over for you!"

Nick wasn't sure if he was still meant to have his gun up, but left it there as he watched Annie run over to the man behind the desk and embrace him in a warm hug. Nick looked over at Harriet, who seemed to be relaxing her stance.

"Should we put the guns down now Annie?" asked Harriet.

Annie looked up from her father's shoulders, "yes! Put them down!" she turned to her father, "Dad I'm sorry"

"Where have you been Katey! I've been looking for you for two years!" said the man.

"I'm sorry," Annie gave a small sob as she said the words, "I didn't want to leave! I just saw the pressure I was putting you under. Keeping me unregistered, always trying to find zombrex for me… it was changing you. I didn't want to be a burden on you anymore."

The man cupped her face gently, and spoke to her sternly and with love, "you have never been a burden to me Katey. What's happened to me is my fault. I chose to mix with these people as I thought it would be easier for us. I never wanted things to turn out this way."

"Ah," Nick started awkwardly, "we'll go."

"Who are these people?" said the man in a somewhat hostile voice.

"I'm Nick, and who are you?" said Nick.

"I'm Chuck Greene, and this is my daughter Katey," said Chuck.

"I'm Harriet," she said, holstering her weapon, "and you're Katey?" she asked Annie.

"Yeah, Kate Anne Greene. I started to go by Annie when I left and joined the illegals," said Annie.

"Well this isn't at all what we planned for, but much better. Right?" said Harriet looking around optimistically. She was met by a blank stare from Chuck, but she proceeded, "well, we brought Annie in as a pretend prisoner, cause we thought you were going to kill her and we need fuel for the plane… but now it seems we are all on the same side… right?"

"What happened to my guys outside?" asked Chuck.

"We tazed one, and put them both in cuffs, but they're fine,' said Harriet.

Chuck rubbed a hand over his face and looked at Annie, "at least you are with people that know how to handle themselves," he said.

"Are Rhonda and Gary okay?" asked Nick?

"Yeah, they're fine. They're… making up," said Chuck.

"Is that a polite way of saying they are off having sex somewhere?" said Harriet.

"Yes," said Chuck.

Dick poked his head around the corner tentatively, "ummm, do I still need this?" said Dick, holding up his gun.

"Apparently not," said Chuck, "and I better go see if my men are okay," he gave Annie one final hug and went outside.

"Holy shit!" said Annie.

"Yeah, this is great, Annie," said Harriet.

"It is!" Annie said.

"So… we… what now?" said Nick.

"We see if Dad has any fuel stored somewhere, we load up, all get on the plane, and get THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" said Annie.

"Katey! Language!" said Chuck from the other room.

'Wow. That's still a thing," said Annie.

"How old are you?" asked Harriet.

"Eighteen," said Annie a little defensively, "You?" she asked.

"Twenty five. But I'd kill to have my Dad tell me off for bad language," Harriet said with a sad smile.

Nick started to walk out of the office into the bar to see what was happening, with Harriet and Annie following behind him. The two bouncers were now untied, with one standing upright and the other still recovering on the ground.

"I'm so sorry," said Nick, "we thought Chuck was trying to hurt Annie, I mean Katey."

The bouncer looked surly, perhaps his pride was hurt more than anything, but he didn't seem angry, "I get it. I'm John, and my man you tazed here is Jesse," said John.

"Sorry Jesse," said Nick. He heard a growl from the ground.

"Nick, what's going on?" said Dick.

"It's complicated," Nick started, "Chuck was looking for Annie because she is his daughter," he paused, "I guess it's not that complicated."

"Oh yeah? Then why has he started calling her Katey?" asked Dick.

"I guess that's her real name, but she has been going by Annie for a couple of years," Nick said.

"Fuck," said Dick with surprise. He took a large swig of a bottle of vodka.

"Chuck," Nick said, he was greeted by an angry look from Chuck, like a silverback staring down a younger adolescent, "I mean, Mr Greene, Gary told us you might have some fuel for a plane we've found. We really need it to get out of this city. Of course, you're all welcome to come with us," said Nick.

"We're _welcome_ to come with you?" said Chuck, with a sneer.

"Cool it you two!" said Annie, "Dad, we've got a plane, it's in the shipping warehouse by the docks, all it needs is fuel now. Do you know where we can find any?" said Annie.

"Yeah," said Chuck, who seemed more placated, "down at central storage under the freeway, we've got plenty. Nick and I will go and bring it back to the plane."

"I'll come too," said Harriet.

"It's going to get pretty hairy, Harriet. You'd best go with John, Jesse, Dick and Annie who can escort you back to the plane," said Dick.

"Excuse me, Chuck?" asked Harriet, as she took several steps towards Chuck and stood two feet from his chest.

"I just mean, it's going to be dangerous," said Chuck, looking a little concerned.

"And what makes you think that a man you have just met needs less protection than me," said Harriet, "and besides, I'm coming with you to protect you both."

Chuck seemed unprepared for the confrontation, "by all means, come," he looked like he wanted to say more, but upon looking Harriet in the eyes, he thought the better of it.

"We'll take the roller bike," said Harriet, "are you guys okay to find a vehicle?"

"We've got a van," said John.

Rhonda and Gary walked into the strip club hand in hand. It was really quite sweet. Rhonda looked around at the scene, "what's going on?" she asked suspiciously, "Nick! Oh my god," she let got of Gary's hand and gave Nick a long hug.

"Well now, I can officially say, I'm confused," said Garry.

"There is plenty of time to explain," said Annie, "we're going to head to the plane, Harry, Dad and Nick are going to get the fuel."

"Dad?" said Gary, looking at Chuck, "why didn't ya tell me!"

"It was none of your concern," said Chuck.

"Hell it wasn't!" said Gary.

"Once again," said Harriet, "plenty of time to explain, Marian and Hemlock are looking for us and we need to go."

"Who is Marian? And do ya mean Hemlock, like from TV?" said Gary.

The group decided to make a move at that point, as it seemed the explanation of events would be a lengthy one.

"Be carefully Annie," said Harriet. She walked over to her and gave her a big hug and kiss on the cheek.

"You too, look after these big idiots," said Annie.

One group moved towards the van, with Jesse being dragged, and Chuck, Nick and Harriet walking down to the Rollerhawg.

"If you care so much about my daughter, why didn't you volunteer to take her back to the plane?" Chuck asked Harriet.

"Because she doesn't need it," said Harriet.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

The rollerhawg if uncomfortable before, felt like the embodiment of awkwardness now. They settled for Chuck riding on the back, with Nick driving and Harriet sitting on his lap.

They drove south towards the freeway, mowing down zombies as they went.

"So, how do you two know each other?" asked Chuck, yelling at them from the back of the rollerhawg. The question felt oddly out of place. As if he was trying to start an awkward conversation at a dinner party, rather than riding through a throng of zombies.

"We met at the beginning of the outbreak," said Nick, as he hooked around onto the freeway, "Harriet, picked me up half unconscious from the freeway north of Ingleton," said Nick.

"So she's the rescuing type?" asked Chuck.

Nick wasn't sure if Harriet could hear them, but all the same he decided to answer his question evasively, "you could say that."

The freeway ride was thick with zombies, making any further talk impossible. The engine spluttered, shuddered and smoked as it struggled to make the journey through scores of zombies who were staggering along the road. Nick tried to avoid the packs as he went, sensing that the vehicle didn't have long to go, but they were everywhere.

As they took the last exit to the left to head to central storage under the freeway, the engine smoked heavily and caught fire.

"Shit! We've got to bail!" said Nick, he took his hand off the throttle and the rollerhawg began to slow, "ready to jump?" he asked.

The engine rumbled and burst, prompting all three of them to jump from the vehicle simultaneously. Harriet neatly rolled off and sprang to feet, drawing her sword, as Nick and Chuck fell clumsily to the road.

The vehicle rolled towards a pack of zombies blocking their way forward and exploded in their centre. Thankfully, this killed a fair amount of them, making the last dash to central storage possible.

"Is it just through there, Chuck?" asked Harriet, as she pointed toward central storage.

"Uh, yeah," he said, as he picked up his spiked bat from the ground. Harriet proceeded forward through a throng of what looked like 30 or 40 zombies who survived the explosion. She swung her sword in wide arcs and stabbing motions, and killed what must have been half a dozen zombies before Nick and Chuck could respond and follow. Nick had his Z.A.R and was shooting zombies to the side and behind who were looking close to zoning in on them, Chuck was bashing and slashing his way at any that got within a close range.

Nick could see Harriet ahead swinging her sword, pivoting and ducking as she made her way through the pack. As they emerged through the other side, a zombie caught Nick's arm and knocked the gun from him. It grasped his arm and strained to bring him in for a bite. He grasped the dead flesh of it's arm, and swung the body around with all his might, using the momentum to loosen its grip and toss it to the ground. By this time Chuck was in trouble and had two zombies bringing him down. Nick picked up his weapon, however had several more advancing on him. He shot two and rolled to the ground to shoot at the zombies on top of chuck.

Harriet was already on it. She leapt towards Chuck slicing the two zombies through the skull with two forceful swings. Nick continued to shoot at any surrounding shamblers, and Harriet pulled Chuck from the ground. They all ran towards central storage, which looked like a fenced in garage space.

A dozen or so were still pursing them, so Harriet pulled her flare gun out of her bag and placed a shot carefully in the middle distance. As they sheltered inside, the remaining zombies turned their attention to the flare spluttering on the ground.

"Thanks," said Chuck as they all caught their breath, "I've never seen anyone work a sword like that."

"My pleasure," said Harriet, "where's the fuel?"

"The key's in the office, the fuel is in that old blue car over there," said Chuck.

Nick looked over, and was dismayed to see a beat up old car with yellow barrels of fuel precariously strapped into the boot. It looked like the kind of car that was designed in a time where looks were paramount, and crumple zones were yet to be thought of.

"Is that going to make it to South Almuda?" asked Nick?

"It's going to be tough. We are going to have to be careful with the route we take, or we are going to loose the fuel at best, die in the explosion at worst," said Harriet.

"We've mowed down a lot of zombies on the freeway, so that must be pretty clear by now," said Chuck.

"But after we take a hairpin turn left on the freeway, it will be packed. And then we've still got South Almuda to deal with," said Nick.

"We may need to clear some of the road," said Harriet, "we can set off some dynamite on the way," she rummaged through her bag and pulled out 10 sticks of dynamite.

"You're fucking handy!" said Chuck.

"I know," said Harriet, as they all jogged towards the car.

There was a moment where they all went towards the driver's seat, as they hadn't discussed the division of labour for the trip.

"We need a driver, a dynamite thrower and someone to deal with the clingers," said Harriet.

"I used to be a motocross champion, I can drive" said Chuck.

"I played a little baseball as a kid," said Nick.

"Okay, I'll be on clinger patrol," said Harriet, as she jumped in the backseat.

Chuck drove well, and as anticipated the freeway was clear enough to get the fuel through on the first part of their journey. It became tougher as Chuck took the hairpin turn to head towards South Almuda.

"Time to light 'em Nick," said Harriet, passing some dynamite and a lighter to the front passenger seat, "slow down a bit, Chuck."

"You're the boss," said Chuck.

Nick lit the first fuse and through the dynamite down the road at a large pack on the freeway. As chuck had slowed, several zombies leapt onto the car. Harriet grabbed her knife, and as the first one smashed through the backseat window, she deftly swung her knife through its head.

The explosion ahead shook the car, however thankfully they took no damage. Chuck drove forward, steering through abandoned cars and got them to the north end of South Almuda.

"Another stick!" yelled Harriet. A clinger smashed the driver's side window, grabbing for Chuck's face. Harriet stabbed it in the temple.

Nick lit another fuse and threw it down the street. _We're going to need more dynamite._ The second explosion worked, but they needed another to get through the next pack. Nick lit another and threw it again. Another piercing explosion went off and shook the car, making Nick wonder if the explosions were helping or risking setting the car on fire.

Harriet continued to fight off any clingers as they broke into the car, "left!" she screamed, "right!" as they came to the next turn. Nick took a quick look back at the fuel strapped into the boot of the car. It was still there, but he wondered how many more knocks the car could take before the straps broke and fuel caught fire. If that happened, that was it. They would be stuck in the city.

As they hit the last stretch of road, Nick could see the road ahead was completely packed with zombies. He lit two fuses and threw the dynamite, hoping this would be enough to allow them to take the next left turn, to hopefully safer streets.

The explosion was ear shattering. The car rumbled dangerously and bodies and blood flew through the air. Harriet was stabbing a zombie that had come through the front windscreen, "Left, through the yellow archway up ahead," she said.

The last section of road had bodies stewn all over the ground and the old car struggled to gain traction. Zombies clung to the car like barnacles and Harriet stabled and kicked any that were getting into the car.

"Fuck!" screamed chuck as the wheels struggled for traction. He took a breath and eased off the gas for half a heart beat. He turned the wheel to the left and the car caught some traction and zoomed over the bodies. They came off the main road to see the side streets less dense with the dead. Nick breathed a brief sigh of relief as they saw the warehouse ahead.

"Okay, we need to pull up to the roller door," said Harriet, "Nick, get to the door and have Rhonda open up, I'll take the last of the clingers off the vehicle," with that she jumped out and started stabbing through the heads of any zombies grabbing onto the hood and trunk.

"Rhonda, open up the roller shutters!" said Nick as he banged on the door of the side entrance. The door unlocked and he was met by Greg.

"Oh! Hi Nick! Good to see you!" he said in a cheery voice.

"Great! But the roller shutters, now!" Nick said.

"Oh yeah, right," said Greg, suddenly realising the urgency. Greg ran inside and yelled for Doug to open the garage door. The doors opened and Chuck drove the old car with fuel into the warehouse.

When the roller door shut and the entrances were secured, Nick breathed a sigh of relief. He also realised his hands were shaking. He didn't think they were going to make it back with the fuel.

"Nick," said Harriet, as she jogged over to him. She was covered with dark blood and threw herself heavily into his arms. Nick wrapped his arms around her, gripping her tight to his body. He kissed her head and squeezed his eyes shut, savouring the moment.

"Nice," said Annie, "knew you'd make it back."

Harriet lifted her head from Nick's shoulder and pulled Annie in for a group hug. Nick held Harriet and Annie, saying a silent thank you. Now they had the fuel and could get out of here.

"Do I get a hug?" asked Chuck, directing his question to Annie. Annie let go of Nick and Harriet, and hugged her father. Nick felt that everything was falling into place. They could all finally get out of here.

"I'm going to talk to Rhonda about the plane, okay?" said Nick to Harriet. Harriet smiled widely and kissed Nick deeply on the mouth. This is the sought of thing which two weeks ago would have made Nick extremely uncomfortable, but he no longer cared. He kissed her back for what felt like a long time, lightly grabbing the back of her head and running his other hand down her back.

He finally broke off their kiss, and smiled. Without a word, he looked around the room and found Rhonda standing a few feet away. She was standing next to Gary, but watching Nick with her arms folded and her head cocked slightly to the side.

"Rhonda!" Nick said, "we made it, we're getting out of here!"

"Just like we said, Nick," said Rhonda, "escape or die. And we're still here, alive and kicking."

Nick gave Rhonda a hug and then stepped back, "let's get the plane fuelled up, and get out of here."

"Agreed!" Rhonda placed her hand on Nick's cheek, "I'm so proud of you Nick! I can't believe how brave you have been., she paused and looked into his eyes, "she's lucky to have you, you know?"

"I don't know about that," he said shyly looking at the floor.

"Now come on, I'm going to fuel up the plan, I need you to start getting familiar with the cockpit," Rhonda handed Nick the keys.

"I think I can handle it," said Nick, he looked around the warehouse and saw Isabela eyeing him, "I'll get in there now and check things out."

Nick walked towards the steps to the plane, and found Harriet, Annie and Chuck talking together.

"The first thing I'm going to do when I get out of here is have a shower," Annie was saying.

"Do you want to take a look at the cockpit while Rhonda fuels up?" said Nick.

"Definitely," said Chuck, although the question wasn't exactly meant for him, "we'll all need to get a handle on how this thing works, in case… you know… something goes wrong."

"Dad!" exclaimed Annie.

"He's right," said Harriet, "it's smart, we're not safe yet."

They took the stairs into the plane and found Dick and Isabela had followed them inside.

"Oh, hey, Dick... Isabel, we're just checking out the plane before we take off," said Nick.

"What the fuck, is she doing here?" said Chuck.

"Hello Chuck," said Isabela, "it's been a long time."

"Not long enough! Can someone please tell me what the hell's going on?" asked Chuck.

"She's with us now, she's going to help us," said Nick.

"Well, I'm not going to leave this thing until we take off," said Dick, he looked around the plane curiously, "kinda small, don't cha think? There are only 12 seats and there's," he looked up towards the ceiling and started to count on his fingers, "well, there's more of us."

"You kidding?" said Nick, "we'll squeeze people in the aisles. I think getting out of a zombie infested city, which is about to be blown up, trumps everyone getting seatbelts."

"We need to take off as soon as we can," said Isabela, looking directly at Nick, "every minute we stay here is dangerous, they may find us."

"We're working on it Isabela," said Nick, "we've got to get the fuel in the plane and then we'll leave."

Nick sat in the cockpit and looked at all the dials and levers in front of him. At first he felt overwhelmed, but as he looked at each part, he began to be able to discern its function. He didn't know a lot about flying, and he was pretty sure the landing was going to be bumpy, but he had taken a course as part of his mechanics apprenticeship and was fairly sure he could fly the plane and land it.

"Where are we going to go," said Annie.

"We can all go to my place," said Harriet, "my Dad bought a piece of land nearby for my apocalypse training. It has a good, flat stretch of land we can set down on. From there we can recuperate and make a plan."

Nick turned the key, started up the radio, and flicked around the dial, "we need news, do you think I'll be able to pick up anything —"

A loud crackle came across the radio. He fiddled with the dial until he could pick up the signal clearly. It was Hemlock.

"—collection time is now. Repeat, prime collection time is now. We can expect minimal resistance. Clear up any remaining survivors and await further instructions. Our collection team will start in South Almuda for the Kings, until we have a sufficient harvest. We are starting within the hour—"

The radio went to static, leaving a silence in the aircraft.

"What the fuck?" said Chuck.

"What is Hemlock after?" asked Harriet.

Nick turned to Isabela, if anyone knew what he was talking about, it would be her, "what are the Kings?" Nick asked her.

"Hemlock, will be trying to create a weapon from the King zombies. The substance they hold within them is concentrated, very powerful. He is a greedy man, and he'll want to use it as a weapon to create further outbreaks. Please we need to go, now!" Isabela said.

"We can't let him get it," said Annie, "we have to stop him."

"That's why we have to go!" said Isabela, "we have the cure right here on the plane with us, we need to get somewhere safe!"

"Cure?" asked Chuck, "what cure?"

"Nick was experimented on as a kid and his blood has the cure to the zombie virus," said Annie succinctly.

"I never thought I'd agree with Isabela Keys, but we have to get you outta here kid!" said Chuck.

"But the cure won't mean anything if he gets his weapon," said Harriet. She furrowed her brow and stared ahead in the middle distance thinking, "if he has a weapon like that, he can start outbreaks anywhere he likes in the world. It'll spread quickly, no time to get a cure to people. He can wipe out entire cities, with no loss of American soldiers, infrastructure, fuel, treasures… all left in tact. I'm not exaggerating, with a weapon like that, he'll be able to take over the world."

The plane went quiet. They were all digesting what Harriet had said.

"Fuck," said Dick.

"Fuck is right!" said Chuck.

"I have to stop him," said Nick.

Harriet turned to Nick, "but how! He has weapons, helicopters, an army! We have a few Z.A.R's and optimism!"

"We have to try," and that was all Nick said. He turned off the ignition and left the plane. Harriet charged after him.

"Nick, we have to think about this, make a plan!" said Harriet.

"You heard him Harriet! Collection time is now and it's starting here," said Nick, "if he gets this weapon, that's it for us. We have no choice we'll have to try."

"But how are we going to fight an army?" said Harriet.

"I don't know yet, but there'll be a way. We just need to stop the harvest and kill hemlock," said Nick.

"Oh!" said Harriet, "is that all!" she said with sarcasm so thick you could stew it.

"What do you need?" said Doug. His brevity and large stature reminded Nick of a terminator.

"To stop Hemlock harvesting a weapon so powerful it could destroy the world," said Nick. He saw no point in mincing words with Doug.

"How will he 'harvest'?" asked Doug.

It was a good question, how was he going to collect king zombies and safely take them away for experimentation.

"He's after King zombies," said Harriet, "he wants to collect them and synthesize their… ooze to make a weapon to spread outbreaks."

"He'll need at least a level 2 hover craft to store and contain the kings. They're not easy to come by, so I doubt he'll have more than one patrolling the city. He'll probably shoot, tranquilize and tag them first and send out drones to pick them up," said Doug.

"That's… great!" said Nick, "thanks Doug! Tell Rhonda I'll be back soon, but leave without me if I'm not back in an hour."

"Nick!" said Harriet, "what are you doing?"

"I know I wasn't thinking when I ran off to save Diego, but I've got an idea which I think will work," said Nick.

"Well, shit," said Harriet as she picked up her things, "you know I'm coming with you right?


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Harriet and Nick set off alone, for what Nick hoped would be the last time. He desperately wanted to turn back, hop on the plane and go to Harry's house. But he knew something big was happening right now, and if he didn't stop it, the cure would be meaningless, or worse, Hemlock could wipe out the entire population.

"Where are we going, Nick?' asked Harriet as she jogged to keep pace with him.

"Hemlock's hovercraft isn't going to be subtle. If it's in South Almuda, we'll be able to see it," said Nick.

"And then we —" Harriet paused to slice through two zombies blocking their path, "shoot it out of the sky?" she asked.

"I don't think it will be that easy," said Nick. He raised his Z.A.R and shot down some zombies on the road ahead. They had taken the smaller street heading east and they slowed their pace as they took a left turn before entering the busier streets ahead.

"Any ideas on a good vantage point?" asked Nick.

"We need something close," said Harriet as she looked out at the road ahead, "we can stand on the construction site platform, it's just across the road to the right, opposite Wrench o Rama."

"It's going to be tough Harry, the street's packed," said Nick.

"We are going to have to run, and do a lot of dodging," said Harriet in a sombre tone, "there's a ramp that leads up to the platform, it's not the highest or most secure spot, but it's too risky to go further."

"Let's do it," said Nick, feeling brave.

Harriet and Nick ran across the intersection and past Wrench O Rama to the edge of the construction site. There was a small pack of zombies in their way and Harriet stabbed one through the face and pulled her sword out, then kicked another out of her way to the right. They continued to run at full pelt to the ramp that led to the platform.

Once up there, a few zombies started to walk up the ramp towards them. Harriet set off a flare just a few meters away from the base of the ramp, and pulled Nick towards the far end of the platform and out of site.

"What now?" asked Harriet.

"We wait for collection time," said Nick.

Harriet was holding her sword on the ready and standing near the edge of the platform. She had her back to the edge and was eyeing off the ramp to see if any would follow.

"You're so good at this Harry," said Nick, "you're amazing."

She relaxed her stance and looked into Nick's eyes, "thanks. I'm not used to being complimented on my apocalypse survival training."

Harriet cupped Nick's face. It felt so good he didn't want her to move her hand. He couldn't help smiling and held her hand in place, kissing her palm. He felt strangely safe up high above the devastation below and bent low to kiss her. They moved towards each other and pressed their bodies together, kissing each other as the chaos rampaged below.

"I love you too Nick, I haven't had a chance to say it back to you since you left me your note," said Harriet.

Nick ran his fingers through her short dark hair and kissed her again. He felt so happy he could burst.

"Nick, I'm really scared," said Harriet, "we're so close to getting out of here."

Nick started to feel the fear as she said the words. She was right. Everything they had been through up until now had been planned, the odds stacked in their favour, or at least even. Now they were going to try to take on Hemlock, stop the collection and possibly save the world. There was a good chance they would be killed.

Before he could think about it any further, he heard the hovercraft.

"Do you hear that," said Nick, "he's coming."

The hovercraft came closer and closer, until it rested above the southeast corner of South Almuda, just down the street from the construction site. The street was filled with zombies, their numbers looked close to a hundred.

"How can we get to him?" asked Harriet.

Nick didn't answer, but continued to watch. The hovercraft was shooting at the ground below and Nick could see the mutant zombies being tagged with glowing yellow markers. The tagged zombies seemed neutralised; they were swaying from side to side grabbing lamely at their chests.

"He's going to send drones out for them," said Nick, "we have to get closer, now! See that SUV?"

"Yeah," said Harriet.

"We're going to stand on top of that vehicle, let's go," he said. He didn't have time to explain, he took off towards the ramp with his gun at the ready. The few zombies at the base of the ramp were still engaged with the flares, so he hopped off the ramp to the right and doubled back to the street. Harriet was close behind him.

The king zombies may have been neutralised, but the ordinary ones weren't. Harriet and Nick, shot and slashed away at any that blocked their path to the SUV. They were close now, about 10 feet away. A group of 3 zombies attacked Nick simultaneously, and before he could shoot, both his arms were grabbed by zombies either side of him. His gun dropped to his side, swinging idly on it's strap. One quickly took a bite of his forearm before he had time to shake it. The other was struggling with his other arm and the zombie in front was coming towards his chest. He gripped the zombies holding his arms, steadied his weight on his left leg and delivered a strong front kick to the zombie coming straight towards him. To put the other two off balance, he put his full weight behind him and pushed his arms towards the ground. The zombie who bit his arm lost it's grip and he grabbed the other by the head and cracked it down towards his knee which he had quickly brought up to meet it's face. He heard a crack and it fell lifeless to the ground. The zombie who had bit him came back for more and grabbed his left arm this time. He drew the knife Harry gave him from its holster and brought it around promptly in an arc and stabbed it through the temple.

"Nick!" screamed Harriet, as she came charging over to help.

"I've handled it, keep going," he yelled back as he leapt over the stunned zombie on the ground, weaved to the right to avoid another trying to have a lunge at him. He hauled himself up on top of the SUV to relative safety. Harriet followed shortly behind him.

"Your arm!" she said with alarm.

"It's okay. Immune, remember?" said Nick, however now that he was out of immediate danger he started to feel the pain. It hurt like a motherfucker. He winced as he looked down at his forearm.

Harriet, with the steady hands of a field surgeon, grabbed some disinfectant and gauze from her pack and dressed the wound quickly. He hurt like hell when she splashed the disinfectant on the wound. Nick found a moment to be thankful that it hadn't managed to take a chunk out of him, but the wound still looked nasty.

"I hate to ask this again, but what now?" Harriet asked as she held the gauze in place with a clip.

"We have to jump onto one of the drones, or the feet of the king zombies, as they are collected. It will get us on the plane, and then we can fight hemlock," said Nick.

"It's a pretty rough plan, Nick," said Harriet, "but it works for me, and it looks like we don't have much time, the drones are coming."

Yellow drones proceeded to pour fourth from the under carriage of the hovercraft. They descended on the tagged King zombies, zeroing in on their location and one by one the drones began to grasp the Kings, lift them up to the hovercraft above. Nick holstered his knife, and checked his Z.A.R was securely strapped to his chest.

"We better do this now before I loose by nerve," said Nick.

"Those two," said Harriet. She pointed to two zombies behind the SUV who were about to be picked up by the drones.

Nick and Harriet jumped off the SUV and got behind the King zombies. They were swaying slightly and grabbing at their chests, which had a large yellow cylinder stuck in them. As the drone got in place and latched on to the zombie's heads, Nick grasped the drone firmly and prayed he could hold on until they got on the hovercraft. Harriet was shorter than him, and needed to take a small jump to reach the drone, but had no trouble holding on.

The King zombies, seemed to be completely unaware of their presence, but this was not the case for the surrounding regulars. As the drones lifted off, Nick clung on to the drone and wrapped his legs around the King zombie for extra support. He narrowly missed being grabbed by a zombie as they took off.

Harriet had not been so lucky, Nick watched in horror as a zombie grabbed her leg before her drone took off. He looked down and could see her kicking at its head. Nick had never felt so helpless as he watched Harriet fight for her life. He was nearly inside the hovercraft now, too far to jump down to help her. Her drone had not taken off very far with the extra weight, and the last thing he could see before he entered the hovercraft, was the drone loose it's grip on the King zombie and Harriet falling to the ground.

"Harry!" screamed Nick down at the ground. He had to get down there and help her. _The fall wouldn't have killed her. She could be injured! How can she fight off a hoard of zombies if her leg is broken?_ Panic started to overtake him as the last of the King's were loaded on to the plane.

He looked around him and could see he was in a pen of King zombies, all still neutralised. He needed to get the plane to land now! As the hull of the hovercraft closed, he thought he was going to vomit.

 _Breathe,_ said Nick to himself as he tried to collect his thoughts. He could see a gate to the holding pen. He needed to get through it, make his way to the cockpit and force the craft to land. He would crash-land it himself if he needed too.

He examined the fence and gate. It didn't look like it was designed to hold in a mass of hungry zombies. The gate was locked with a padlock from the outside. Nick raised his Z.A.R, took a few steps back and shot at the lock. It was a very good gun. It took two shots to bust it open.

"What the hell is going on back there!" Nick heard a familiar voice say.

Nick charged through the gate, walked around a corner and found himself in the cockpit of the hovercraft. He had no idea what to do next as he stood face to face with Hemlock and one other special ops who was flying the hovercraft.

Nick raised his weapon to Hemlock's head, "land the plane, right here in the street, now!" said Nick.

"You again! What in God's name are you doing here?" screamed Hemlock.

Nick looked towards the pilot, "land the plane or I'll—" Nick's gun was knocked from his arms and he was delivered a staggering right hook to the head before he had a chance to fire a round. Nick went flying over to the wall of the cockpit and Hemlock was coming in for another attack. Nick steadied his feet and lunged into Hemlock, tackling him into the pilot who fell forward onto the control column, which pitched the hovercraft towards the ground. It only took a few seconds for the hovercraft to completely loose control. Hemlock threw Nick off and the pilot struggled to pull the hovercraft out of a dive. It hadn't been very high up off the ground to start with so the ground was coming towards them rapidly.

The pilot struggled to pull up, however the craft hit the top of the construction site, creating an unearthly metallic crunch followed by an explosion to the rear of the plane. Nick could barely recall what happened next. Everyone held on as best they could as the hovercraft came crashing to the ground, decimating the construction site.

Nick roused himself from the ground and could feel his lungs filling with smoke. _Harriet,_ he thought immediately and lifted himself off the floor of the cockpit. He was sore, but didn't register any major injuries. The pilot on the other hand had a metal beam protruding from his chest, which had smashed through the windshield. Nick clambered towards the windshield and began smashing open a hole big enough to crawl through. The plane hadn't crashed far from where Harriet had fallen. If he hurried, he could still reach her. Just as Nick broke through the windshield, he was grabbed by the shoulders, and thrown to the floor of the cockpit like a ragdoll.

"Where do you think you're going boy?" Hemlock said through gritted teeth. He stood over Nick, and made a towering presence. He may have been older than Nick, but he was taller, thicker, and by the way he had just thrown him to the ground, Nick was guessing he was much stronger as well.

"You have ruined everything! One scrawny little prick! Years of planning!" Hemlock landed heavily on top of Nick before he had a chance to try to stand. Hemlock wrapped both hands around Nick's throat and began to choke him. Nick immediately felt the pain around his neck, however worse still was the feeling of panic that rose quickly as he struggled to gasp for breath.

Hemlock spoke with a quiet rage, which was nothing short of terrifying, "we were so close. I could have had the world!" Nick struggled to think, brain deprived of oxygen, lungs burning, as Hemlock continued, "you may have ruined the collection, but at least I can have the pleasure of squeezing the life out of you."

Nick tried to reach for his gun, however it was pinned behind his back. Spots started to appear in his vision, and he knew the end couldn't be far off. His left hand flailed helplessly towards Hemlock's face as his right hand reached his knife. He pulled the knife from its holster, and with his last ounce of strength, he plunged the knife into Hemlock's side between his ribs.

"Ah! Fuck!" screamed Hemlock as he let go of Nick's throat and grasped for the knife.

Nick took in a desperate strangled breath and rolled Hemlock off from on top of him. He struggled to his feet, with legs of jelly and head spinning as the blood and oxygen desperately tried to circulate normally again.

Hemlock was trying to get the knife out of his torso, but struggled to grasp the handle due to its position. Nick grabbed his Z.A.R from behind his back and raised it at Hemlock's head. He may have a knife in his side, but he had seen how tough this guy was and wasn't going to underestimate him again.

Hemlock pulled out the knife with his left hand, which turned out to be a big mistake. Blood poured freely from the wound and he began to cough up blood, leading Nick to think he must have punctured a lung. Hemlock was on his knees and starting to slump against the co-pilot chair to the side.

"Well go on kid, finish it. I'd rather a bullet in the head than being torn apart by a pack of zombies," said Hemlock bravely.

Nick was going to shoot him, but couldn't help but think he was getting off easy, "was it worth it? Thousands of lives. Children, families, an entire god damn city!" Nick was beyond furious. Hemlock didn't seem to be inclined towards contrition, even at the end. He spat out a wad of blood to the side as he slid further against the chair.

"Well you know what? You're friend Marian was right! I am the cure!" said Nick, holding up his healed bite wound as proof, "We are going to get out of here, and we are going to cure this thing once and for all."

And then curiously, Hemlock started laughing. Not a mad maniacal kind of laugh, but an ironic sardonic kind of laugh. It was extremely unnerving. "You think you've got it all figured out, don't you kid."

 _I've wasted enough time here._ The cabin was starting to fill with thick black smoke and Nick was worried the whole craft was going to blow soon. He raised his weapon and shot Hemlock in the face. It felt like a rather unceremonious end. He picked up his knife from the ground, which was covered in blood, placed it back in its holster and quickly made his way through the front windscreen.

The flames at the back of the hovercraft were roaring now, and roasting the King zombies in the back. The flames thankfully attracted most of the zombies on the street, and so Nick ran and dodged as best as he could to the place where he saw Harriet fall from the drone.

"Harry!" he screamed, not caring about the dead he was attracting, "HARRY!"

He stood on top of the SUV and surveyed the street, but she was nowhere to be seen.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

Nick jumped down from the roof of the SUV, and ran as fast as his tired legs could carry him towards the warehouse. He turned left onto the quieter backstreets and slammed into Doug, whiles simultaneously the plane exploded with a deafening roar. It was quite disorienting. Nick looked back to see plane and body parts flying down the street.

"We need to get you to safety soldier," said Doug. Only then did Nick realise that Annie and Chuck were standing behind him. Annie looked so small standing next the two large men.

"I need to find Harriet, she dropped—" Nick started.

"It's fine Nick, she's at the warehouse," said Annie, "she can't walk very well, she may have a twisted ankle or something, but she's going to be okay."

"Oh thank God!" said Nick, as he covered his hands with his face and doubled over. He felt like he was going to fall over. All the adrenaline that was fuelling him for the past 20 min seemed to leave his body all at once, and his legs started to feel weak.

"I like you an all kid, but I didn't come out here for you," said Chuck, "Isabela left the warehouse in a car shortly after you to 'get something' from the lab. I don't trust her as far as I could throw her. She's up to something. The labs not far from here, so I'm going to go check it out."

"Don't be long Chuck, we leave in thirty," said Doug.

"Be careful Dad," said Annie, giving her father a long hug, "we just found each other again, I can't lose you now."

"I've survived worse than this Katie, I'll be back," said Chuck. He reluctantly released her hug and cupped her face with one hand, "that's a promise." He jogged off down the street with nothing but his spiked bat. Nick was thinking how out of character this softer side of Annie seemed. She peered around the corner and watched her father weave and swing his bat through the crowd; her face was full of concern. Perhaps he didn't know Annie as well as he thought. For example, her name was actually Katie…

Doug, Annie and Nick proceeded to jog back to the warehouse. A few zombies were stirring on the streets; however a few well-placed shots and weaves were all that was required to get to safety.

"We followed you to see if you needed any help when we realised you were gone," said Annie, "Harriet was fighting off zombies with a strong limp, and the hovercraft was heading to the ground. Best thing we could do was get Harriet back to safety."

"Absolutely! I could kiss you!" said Nick. Annie gave a trademark smirk as she jogged up the stairs and knocked on the door to gain entry.

"It's us," she said.

The door swung open, "Hi Guys, Hi Nick!" said Greg, with his usual cheery demeanour.

"Uh, hi Greg. Where's Harry?" asked Nick.

"You sound like a broken record," said Annie, rolling her eyes, "I'll show you to her."

Doug stayed behind with Greg, whiles Annie showed Nick onto the plane where Harriet was. The warehouse was a hive of activity, but Nick barely noticed as he took the steps onto the plane two at a time.

Down the back of the plane, a make shift first-aid area had been set-up for Anna and Harriet who were both now incapacitated. They were lying on the floor, and made comfortable with pillows, blankets, and what he guessed was a stack of opiate based medications.

"Nick!" screamed Harry as she saw him enter the plane, she struggled to stand up, but was restrained by Lauren with a firm hand on the shoulder. "What happened?! I heard the explosion. I thought you were dead! How did you get out? Is Hemlock dead? Are you hurt?"

Nick fell on the ground beside her and held her in his arms. He squeezed her tight and answered her questions.

"I'm not hurt," said Nick, "well, Hemlock nearly choked me to death, but he's dead now. The plane crashed and the collections over. The plane exploded after I got out."

"Oh God!" said Harriet, "I was so worried."

"So was I! I saw you fall, but I was too far from the ground to help you. I'm so sorry!" said Nick.

"I know, it's okay, I could see how high up you were," said Harriet.

"I forced the plane to land, tried to get back, but you were gone." As Nick said the words he heard his voice choke and felt the start of tears in his eyes. The fear and panic were dissolving and it only now dawned on him that he nearly lost her. He buried his face into her neck and took some deep breaths, not wanting anyone to see him cry.

"You guysar ssooo cute," said Anna, with slurred speech.

"I'll have what she's having," said Lauren dryly.

"I'm on my way," said Harriet, as she rattled a little bottle of pills she had next to her. Nick burst out laughing, so grateful and relieved. It was an emotional washing machine. He wiped his eyes and let go of Harry, turning around and sitting next to her on the floor.

"How's your leg Anna?" Nick asked.

"Watd leg?" said Anna, she had a sleepy smile on her face.

"Maybe we gave her a little too much…" said Lauren.

The group laughed amongst themselves at Anna's stoned face and the goings on around the plane for the last few hours. As they chatted away happily, Nick noticed Annie wasn't joining in.

"Your dad's going to be fine Annie. I think he may be indestructible! And the explosion took out a lot of zombies on the streets," said Nick.

"I know, it's just…" Annie exhaled audibly and looked out the plane window, "I'll be able to relax when he gets back and we take off," said Annie.

"What did Isabela say she needed to get from the lab?" asked Harriet.

"She just said she needed to get some equipment and some of her research to help with the cure," said Annie, "we offered to go with her and she refused, which had dad real nervous. He has never trusted her."

"And rightly so," said Harriet, "I get why she is so angry, I really do! Her whole village was destroyed. But to be involved with spreading the zombie virus? Nothing can justify that."

"She gives me the creeps," said Lauren.

Doug must have given the signal to pack up and move out, as the plane started to fill up with survivors and it was starting to get pretty packed. All the seats were filled and people were starting to squeeze into the aisles.

"I better go up to the cockpit," said Nick to Harriet. Some time had passed and he thought the pain killers were beginning to kick in.

Harriet smiled widely at Nick, "COCKpit," she said, and started to giggle at her joke, which was a little unlike her.

"Okay my little stoneface, does your leg still hurt?" asked Nick.

"Nope," said Harriet. She leant over to Nick and kissed him deeply for what felt like a long time. Nick was getting very turned on and decided to end the kiss before things got embarrassing.

He moved past Alice, Greg, Julia and Eric who were standing in the aisle, and made his way to the cockpit to find Rhonda in the pilot's chair.

"You flying this thing?" Nick asked her.

Rhonda stood up and gave Nick a big hug, "I knew you'd make it. And I hear you avoided Armageddon too?"

"Well… you know," Nick replied, with mock nonchalance.

"And of course I'm flying this thing. I actually know how to fly. Plus, I've being working on this plane for the last few days and know her inside and out," said Rhonda.

"The fence is open behind the warehouse," said Doug, "you can taxi there, and there's plenty of space to take off."

"What about my dad!?" said Annie angrily.

"He's here," said Doug with his customary briskness, "with Isabela."

Just then, Isabela entered the plane with Chuck following closely behind her. He was holding a gun to the small of her back.

"Hey, whoa!" said Nick, standing up from the co-pilots chair, "what's going on here?"

"What's going on here, is Isabela started this whole fucking outbreak!" as Chuck said the last few words he pushed her violently to the floor. The plane erupted in chatter

"How did she do it—"

"What the hell is going —"

"Again?"

"Does anyone have any cuffs?" Chuck said with his voice raised.

"Right here," said Harriet, pulling a pair of handcuffs from her pack, and throwing them halfway up the plane to Chuck. The survivors assisted in getting them to him, as Doug closed the aircraft door, readying them for take-off.

Nick couldn't believe it. He trusted Isabela, even started to like her.

"How do you know that?" asked Nick.

"Cause she went back to the lab to destroy this," said Chuck. After he secured the handcuffs, leaving Isabela lying face down on the floor of the aircraft, he opened the duffle bag he was carrying and brought out a laptop. The plane was eerily quiet as all the survivors held their breath to see what he would show them.

Chuck played a clip that was open on the laptop. It was Isabela and Marian having a heated discussion in a conference room.

"You're insane! Starting an outbreak to find the immune one? It makes no sense, it will kill thousands! Including the orphan. No… No!" said Marian in the recording.

"It's the only way Marian," said Isabela, "I know he is out there somewhere. Those lives are inconsequential compared to the cure. That's why I have continued to work with you, that's why I've stayed here, _voluntarily_. To find a cure….

"In an outbreak, the orphan will realise his immunity and come forward. And your friend Hemlock might find that convenient as well," finished Isabela.

Nick felt sick. He could hear the shocked whispers and hushed chatter as the survivors expressed their outrage. Nick could barely listen to the rest of the recording. It was more bickering between the two of them, Isabela boasting about going down in history as the inventor of the cure. _It was all for me. Everyone died because of me._

Nick felt numb, "let's take off Rhonda," said Nick.

"Sure kitten," said Rhonda. She turned the key and started the engine.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

The plane landed safely at Harriet's property, and the survivors cheered loudly as the wheels touched the ground.

"Makes me think they didn't have much faith in our flying," said Rhonda, as she slowed the plane in an open field.

There were no stairs to help them out of the plane doors at this end of the trip, so all 19 survivors jumped out of the plane one at a time. Doug jumped out first to assist anyone that needed help. Second off the plane was President Paddock, Nick almost forgot about her in the madness of their escape. She was quiet on the trip back, however graciously accepted Doug's assistance in getting out of the plane.

"I'll need to get to a phone immediately," President Paddock said to Doug, "I need to let people know that the rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated, and to cease any plans to bomb the city. I also need to tell my team about Hemlock and Isabela as soon as possible."

"Of course Madame President," said Doug, "I assume you'll also need an extraction, we'd be grateful if you could keep our location a secret. Could we take you into town to meet your people?"

"You have my word," she said.

The illegals jumped off the plane next, Lauren, Winnie, Annie and Red. They were ecstatic, to be out of Los Perdidos and to find a cure. It would be nice for them to be part of mainstream society again.

The couples seemed to follow, Alice delicately sat on the lip of the exit door and glided to the ground with Doug's assistance and Greg jumped and fell to the ground like a drunk teenager. After shutting off the engine, Rhonda grabbed Gary and kissed him unashamedly before leaping to the grass below. Julia and Eric, who Nick could never really tell if they were together or not, hopped out next.

Chuck dragged Isabela off the floor and nearly threw her out of the plane. Her hands were bound, so Doug half caught her as she fell into the mud. Chuck dragged her towards the house roughly, cursing all the way.

Anna and Dwayne seemed to be friends now, which seemed an unlikely friendship to Nick. Dwayne carried her to the plane door and gently lowered her into Doug's arms. He thought Dwayne might have a bit of a thing for her and he made a mental note to casually mention that Anna was gay to Dwayne.

Nick lifted Harriet off the ground, however not without effort. She was small, and light, but his arm still had a fresh bite wound and he could feel the wound stretch and reopen as he carried her.

"Home sweet home," said Nick with a small wince.

"How sweet of you to carry me over the threshold," said Harriet with a goofy grin.

He lowered her gently to Doug, and Harriet stood with one foot on the grass, leaning heavily on Doug. Nick jumped to the ground and took a deep breath in. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before. Days of constant fear, being on hyper alert, and breathing decayed air was in stark contrast to the fresh air and open field of Harriet's property.

Dick, who didn't seem to be with anybody, jumped off the plane last. Doug leapt up to the plane and expertly swung the door shut whiles landing lightly on the ground. No small feat for a man of his stature.

Nick went to pick Harriet up again, however Harriet stopped him.

"Your arm Nick," she said pointing at the fresh bleeding on his bandage.

"It's okay," Nick said, still feeling he should be tough.

"I got it," said Doug, gracefully sweeping Harriet off her feet in a fluid motion whiles walking towards the house. Nick felt a pang of jealously, but only for an instant. He mostly felt relieved as his arm really hurt.

"A nice little spot," said Dick as he and Nick walked towards the house together. The house looked like it was built in the 70's, which in Nick's mind usually meant ugly, but the exposed brick house looked like it was at home on the property. It was an unassuming one-storey house, which sprawled with the landscape. It had plenty of glass sliding doors, and sloped double height roof space to make the home seem grand in it's own way.

Everyone seemed to instinctively take off their shoes at the front door. All of them were caked in blood and mud. Nick followed suit, took of his trainers, and stepped into the front hallway. As he closed the door behind him, it sank in for Nick. They were all home and all safe.

He entered the large open plan living, dining and kitchen area, which also had an excellent billiard table and bar. Nick couldn't wipe the grin off his face.

"Listen up everyone," said Harriet who had been placed on a high stood at the kitchen island, "welcome home!" She was greeted by loud cheers and claps from the survivors in her living room.

"There has been one thing which has probably been on your mind since the outbreak started," Harriet paused for dramatic effect, "a shower."

"YES!" screamed Greg, a little too loudly.

"Thank you Greg," said Harriet. It was like a wedding reception, it was an easy crowd for cheers and laughs.

"Any chance of… some clean clothes?" ventured Alice.

"Whatever I have, you're welcome to share," said Harriet, "I still have some of my dad's old clothes for the guys as well."

"yesss," said Greg, a little more subdued this time.

"My home has 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms with showers," said Harriet, "so maybe the girls take the two bedrooms with ensuites and the guys take the large bathroom off the hall?"

It seemed it was enough said, everyone peeled off to shower and get changed. The atmosphere in the house was electric. People were high fiving, laughing and hugging each other. Greg looked like a kid at Christmas.

"I think I need a beer," said Doug.

"Lucky for you I keep a well stocked fridge," said Harriet, "Doug, can you open the fridge behind the bar for me?

Doug, who seemed to be acting as Harriet avatar, opened the bar behind the fridge, which was stocked with what looked like two cases of beer and a dozen bottles of wine and champagne.

"What the fuck?" said Nick, "Harriet, this is awesome."

"You never know when you'll have guests," said Harriet, "and there is a stack of frozen meat in the kitchen fridge."

"Meat?" said Doug, who was displaying the first ounce of enthusiasm since Nick had encountered him.

"Yes my friend! Want to defrost it?" said Harriet.

Doug re-arranged his face into a more serious visage, "yes, I'll get right on that,' he said, heading to the kitchen.

Nick walked over to Harriet's stool and wrapped his arms around her, "just when I thought you couldn't get anymore amazing."

She smiled widely and kissed him.

"Since this is my house, we get to call dibs on one of the bedrooms," said Harriet.

"Absolutely, I think it's only fair," said Nick, as he leaned in and continued to kiss her.

"Hate to break this up guys," said Chuck, "but what should I do with her?"

President Paddock came back from the study where she was making a private phone call, "she'll have to stay here for the night. I just got off the phone from some people I trust at homeland. They'll extract Isabela and I from town tomorrow at midday."

"Great," said Chuck sarcastically.

"Do you have a secure area we can keep her until tomorrow?" said Doug.

"I'm right here," said Isabela angrily.

"Shut up!" said Chuck.

"We are better off keeping her were everyone can see her," said Harriet, "you can keep her chained to the radiator in the living room."

"Great! So she can watch us celebrate and enjoy the party," Chuck just wasn't letting up on the sarcasm.

"It will increase her risk of escape if we put her somewhere where she can't be seen. It's better this way," said Harriet.

"Do you know what the plan will be from here President Paddock?" Nick asked.

"It's unclear. First we need clean up the city and rescue any remaining survivors. The government will actually be saving them this. Then we need to bring Isabela and those involved with the outbreak to justice. It's going to be a hell of mess. Hemlock commanded forces to do unspeakable things. On the other hand, they were trained to follow orders unquestioningly," President Paddock looked tired and took a deep breathe, "then we need to work on the cure."

"How are you going to do that?" asked Nick. He was keenly interested in what he needed to provide in order to assist them. _Did they just need a blood sample?_

"We'll need you to come with us," said the President, "The ZDC will need blood and tissue samples. They'll also need to work very closely with Isabela to help create a cure, and maybe a vaccine."

"You're not taking him," said Harriet.

"How do you propose we work on a cure then?" asked the President.

"I don't trust you," said Harriet.

"We'll give you full autonomy to come and go as you please, but we can't let you stay here. It's too important that we find a cure," said the President.

" _Let_ him stay?" said Harriet, picking up on the operative word.

"Okay, can I have a say in this?" said Nick, "I want to help you find a cure, I am happy to provide whatever you need. But I'm not going to some military facility and being locked in a lab. I've done that already, and it didn't work. I will go to a public hospital where you can take whatever samples you need. And I get to take my friends with me."

"Agreed," said Paddock, "and we get to station guards at the hospital to ensure your safety."

"Okay," said Nick.

"And he wants to be compensated," said Harriet.

'What?" said Nick.

"Nick risked his life to stop Hemlock and the collection and is now giving his body over to the ZDC to cure thousand of the zombie infection. He deserves a reward," said Harriet.

"That sounds fair," said Paddock, "the reward won't be outstanding, but we'll allow you to sell your story to the papers when the cure has been developed and order has been restored.

"Agreed," said Nick, "and now, I've had enough of talk about zombies, I want to relax for the first time in a week. I'm going to have a few beers, take a shower and have a barbeque."

"I highly recommend it Nick," said Greg, who emerged from the bathroom in oversized cargo pants and a white t-shirt, "I have never been more grateful for being clean!"

Nick walked over to the bar and handed Greg a beer, "here."

"Oh my God!" Greg looked so happy he might die.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

After the survivors had finished showering, receiving some first aid and calling their families, the party ensued. It was strange to be celebrating with Isabela chained to the radiator in the middle of the party, but everyone seemed to make do.

Unsurprisingly, the survivors had a lot of pent up stress. People drank a little too much too quickly and before long, everyone got loose. Nick was standing at the bar pouring whisky and surveying the scene. The music was turned up loud and the survivors were dancing like they had just discovered it. Alice and Greg were jumping around like teenagers. It was a site to behold to see Greg dressed in Harriet's Dad's buttoned down Sunday best pumping his fist in a wide circles whiles jumping enthusiastically to "Jump Around" by House of Pain.

Everyone was dancing, with the exception of Anna who was lying on the couch looking a little stoned, having clearly overdone it on her pain medication. Even Harriet was jumping around on one leg. Nick was feeling the effects of a few whiskies. He had never really had whisky before, mainly sticking to beer or a few safe spirits and mixers. However after three whiskies neat, he thought he could see the appeal, or maybe it was just their effect he was enjoying. He looked around the room feeling a relaxed joy wash over him. _We're all safe. I can't believe we made it. I wish Diego could be here. He would have liked this party._

And as rapidly as his joy had arrived it departed as he thought of Diego being torn apart from the inside. He stared out across the survivors, looking at nothing. _It was all for me._

"Hey Nick! What are you staring at?" said Harriet, after she had hobbled over to the bar. She held Nick around the waist and brought him close to her _._

"All those people died because of me. And Diego…" Nick trailed off and took a large swig of his whisky… "I mean, fuck! How does anyone live with that?"

"Whoa ! I'm going to stop you right there Nick," said Harriet. She was holding him firmly by the waist and trying to maintain eye contact. Nick was trying to look away, but she moved her head into his line of site and held his eyes, "None of this is your fault. You can't let yourself think like that, not for a minute." She paused and turned her eyes to Isabela, "this is her fault, and her fault alone… and maybe the military's fault too. Actually there are a lot of people whose fault this is. If you want to share some of the blame, you'll have to get in line."

 _Can't argue with that logic…_ "I know you're right," Nick gave a small smile, "it's almost arrogant that I could think I caused all this. I think I'm just… drunk? I don't know."

"Maybe a little drunk," said Harriet with a mischievous smile, "want to really get this party started?"

Nick had no idea what she had in mind. _Sex?_

"I may have a few party favours to really get this party going," said Harriet.

This was a side to Harriet, he hadn't seen before. But then again, he had only known her a few days.

"I've never don't drugs before," said Nick.

"Clearly, because only people who haven't ever taken drugs say 'done drugs'. Open wide!" Harriet withdrew a little plastic bag with resealable top and took out a small white pill.

"What is it?" Nick asked.

"Ecstasy," said Harriet.

 _What the hell,_ "All right, Fuck it!" said Nick, taking the small white pill and swallowing it with the remainder of his whisky.

"You're in for a hell of a ride!" said Harriet, as she swallowed a pill with her beer.

"What ride?" said Annie, coming at just the right moment.

"E," said Harriet.

"Cool, can I have some," said Annie.

"Of course darling," said Harriet, handing Annie a pill, which she quickly swallowed.

"Annie, are you sure?" said Nick, realising that he sounded like a twat.

Annie actually snorted as she laughed at Nick, "Oh Nick, this certainly isn't my first time. A lot of us 'illegals' use on the weekends at warehouse parties for a bit of a release. Do you have any spare Harriet? Red, Lauren and Winnie will loose it!"

"Sure, go ahead," said Harriet, handing the small plastic bag to Annie.

"Thanks," she said in awe, as she took the bag with undue reverence, "and ah, can you not tell my dad?"

Nick started laughing. A lot. Annie rolled her eyes and took it as her cue to leave.

"Full of surprises, aren't you," said Nick, grinning widely.

"And one more up my sleeve," she said. She gently shoved Nick against the bar and kissed him thickly. Nick felt completely disoriented, he was a little drunk and now extremely horny. She pulled away from him with a bong in her hand.

"Ta da!" said Harriet, holding the bong aloft with one hand and doing a jazz hand with the other.

"Jesus Christ!" said Nick, as he started to laugh again.

Before long, Harriet had the bong set-up, with a neat little amount of pot ready to go. She began to circulate around the room, offering hits like it was the end of the world. Which come to think of it, it nearly was.

"Interested Greg?" said Harriet.

"Yes. Yes I am," said Greg, as if he had been offered some extra pepper on his meal.

"Greg!" said Alice, "we don't do drugs!" she added incredulously.

"And we also don't do… zombie… killing, but here we are," the excuse was pretty thin. Harriet lit the top and Greg took a long drag.

"Woo!" he said with enthusiasm, "it's working! I'm high!"

"Slow down there cowboy," said Harriet, as she hobbled over to some other survivors.

"What about me?" said Anna from the couch.

"You're cooked already sunshine, no more for you," said Harriet.

"Oh, okay," said Anna. Nick took note of how chill she was.

President Paddock did not partake, but she thought about it for a minute, before refusing.

"Dwayne?" asked Harriet.

"Hell, I'm still a cop… but I guess it's legal now, so…." Dwayne took a hit, "Hell! It's just like the 90's!" Nick didn't really know what he meant by this, but then again, a lot of things were seeming strange to him now. He took a second to register if the ecstasy was having any effect. He was gripping his beer very tightly and the music felt great. He hadn't realised it before but he was dancing. _I never dance. Why haven't I ever danced before?_

Nick enjoyed himself as he moved his feet to some inane song he had heard on the radio a hundred times before. The room felt warm.

"Enjoying yourself there Nick," said Red, dancing next to Nick.

"Yes, how amazing is this! We survived!" said Nick.

'We survived!" screamed Red into Nick's face.

"If you think about it, it's really amazing. We should have died so many times. How did we do it all?" said Nick.

"I know right?" said Red, intensely concentrating on what Nick was saying.

"I mean, we drove through hoards of zombies, found a plane and got it working, defeated special ops, broke people out of detention, I escaped a fucking, ah..." Nick was beginning to sweat, "ah… house of horrors lab, my friend died and I got bitten. TWICE!" said Nick, holding up his bite wounds for Red to see.

"Holy shit brah!" said Red, "you're a king!"

"Thanks!" said Nick.

Annie approached Nick and Red, swaying lazily to the music.

"And this girl!" said Nick to Annie, "is the fucking best! You rock Annie!"

"I know right!" said Annie. She lunged at Nick and gave him a huge hug. She began swaying to the music and before long they were dancing together, holding each other close. It felt amazing, he thought he could feel all of her. Weirdly, Red joined the group hug, and the three of them stood in a huddle, embracing each other, dancing out of time to the music.

Nick woke-up with a pounding headache and a mouth that tasted like an ashtray. _Did I smoke last night?_ He opened his eyes and saw an ashtray full of cigarette butts on the bedside table and it all started coming back to him. _Oh God._

He registered that he was naked under the covers. He rolled over and saw the back of Harriet's head. Her short dark hair all mussed up, and her beautiful bare back exposed. He propped himself up on his elbow, looking further along the bed and saw Annie, fast asleep on her back. Her breasts were exposed and he had a sudden instinct to cover her up. Then more flashback from the night before started to flood in. _Oh God. I guess it's too late to cover her up now. Fuck, where is Chuck! He is going to kill me!_

Nick jumped out of bed and found his clothes on the floor in the middle of Harriet's bedroom. He dressed quickly and checked the time. 10:38, he guessed he had had about 5 hours sleep. _Fuck I'm thirsty._ He looked around the room, and found a few empty beer bottles but no clean glasses to fill in the bathroom.

Calm down Nick, go get some water, find out where Chuck is, and when the girls wake-up, get them dressed. We can just tell Chuck we fell asleep in here. There are probably people sleeping all over the house.

He crept outside, to see what could only be described as utter devastation. The air smelled of sour beer and pot. He crept into the lounge area, Greg was asleep sitting up on the couch with a half empty beer still in his hand. Nick grabbed the beer and went to empty it in the kitchen sink.

After he went to the kitchen and drank 2 full glasses of water, he decided it would be nice to get Harriet and Annie some glasses too. He filled up 3 full glasses and quietly walked back through the lounge room.

That was when he noticed Isabela sitting up, still chained to the radiator, wide awake and staring at him.

"Could I have some? I haven't had anything to drink since yesterday, I'm very thirsty," said Isabela.

Nick didn't say a word, but quietly walked over to her, set the two glasses down and raised the third to her lips. She may be a mass murder, however she had rights. Also, they needed her alive to work on the cure.

'Thank you, Nick," said Isabela, "you're a good boy, I knew you would be."

'What?" said Nick. His head was still pounding, and here he was, talking to Isabela Keyes, who was praising his ethics.

"I'm so proud of you. You're handsome and strong and brave. But now I find you are also kind, something I have never seen much of," said Isabela.

"I'm sorry," said Nick sarcastically, "are you trying to make me feel sorry for you?"

"No. It's just… this is coming out all wrong. I wanted this to go differently,"

The hairs on the back of Nick's neck began to stand on end. Something didn't feel right. She was a prisoner, her life was over, but she looked… calm, almost peaceful. Nick proceeded quietly as the room was still full of sleeping survivors.

"Wanted what to go differently," Nick asked.

"Did you have fun at the party?" asked Isabela, "it sure looked like you had fun. And it appears you are quite popular with women too," she said and started to smile.

"DON'T," Nick paused and preceded more calmly, "don't change the subject. What did you want to go differently?"

Isabela paused briefly before proceeding, "I told you the story of my village, Santa Cabeza. It was beautiful Nick, I know you would have liked it," she paused and her voice became dark and bitter, "but it was destroyed, as you know. Everything and everyone I loved. I have lost so much, Nick. Even more than you know.

"When the soldiers arrived, they… took my soul I think, they took my very self. They killed everyone they could find, but sometimes when they found young women…" Isabela paused, "they raped them before they killed them. I was 17 at the time."

Despite himself, Nick found himself feeling for her, being horrified, "I'm sorry Isabela, I can't possibly know what that's like,"

"Carlito found me before they could kill me, but I was with child, as many of the women were. 50 in total, as you might have heard, products of the destruction brought by the United States.

"And then the last thing I had was taken from me. The last piece that was holding me together; my little boy. He was so beautiful. I held him in my arms, I fed him, I sang to him," Isabela began to cry. Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed quietly.

"Carlito said," she shuddered as she took a deep intake of breath, "that I couldn't keep him, that he would go to the orphanage and go to a loving home in America. We couldn't escape, with a baby. I begged him. I…" Isabela was wracked with sobs by this time. It was becoming difficult for her to talk. She steadied herself, taking some time and long slow breaths.

"But I'd never let him make my baby 'a little ticking time bomb'. And there came our deliverance, he made my little boy immune." Isabela stopped talking and looked into Nick's eyes.

Nick's mind was reeling. _Was this a joke?_ But as he looked at his mother, he knew it was true.

"So…" Nick began, "you're my mother."

"Yes!" said Isabela, "she went to move closer to Nick, but was stopped by her handcuffs, "yes, you are my beautiful boy. I couldn't live without finding you. I wanted a cure, but more than anything, I wanted you back! I wanted to know who you are, how you lived. I wanted to be your mother Nick."

Nick sat back from Isabela and raised his hands in front of him as if to stop her from talking.

"I can prove it," she said, "when we're in the labs working on a cure, we can do a DNA test."

"I can't…" started Nick, "I can't hear this!" he could feel the panic rising in his voice.

"You're all I've ever wanted Nick, all I've ever needed to make me whole again," said Isabella, sounding increasingly more desperate.

"I gotta –" Nick scrambled to his feet and ran for the door. As soon as he made it outside and on to the front lawn, he yakked all over it.

"Oh God," Nick murmured to himself. He wiped the remaining vomit from his face and sat on the grass. _I've wanted to find my parents for so long. I finally do, and discover my father is a rapist and my mother is a mass murder…_

He could barely comprehend his own feelings. He had always felt alone and an outsider. But this was something new. Shame? Disgust? Nick folded his arms over his knees and planted his face on his forearms. He sat like this for some time until Harriet came outside to join him.

"Not feeling so hot huh?" said Harriet from the doorway, "neither am I, truth be told."

Nick didn't reply or move. Harriet closed the door behind her and sat next to Nick.

"Want some water?" she said, offering him a glass.

Nick slowly raised his head and took the glass from her washing his face and hands and taking a few big gulps to wash away the taste of vomit.

"So… that was some night last night huh?" Harriet began, "don't get me wrong! I don't regret it, but that was pretty wild. I've actually never done anything like that you know. I mean, with another girl in the room…"

Harriet waited for a response, but Nick merely sat mutely, watching the horizon.

"Nick? You're beginning to freak me out. What's going on?" asked Harriet.

Nick couldn't think of a good way to put it, so decided to say it bluntly, "Isabela just told me she's my mother."

"What?!" Harriet half screamed, "that's crazy, she's just messing with you Nick. She's probably trying to get you to feel sorry for her so you'll help her escape."

"I don't think so," he said quietly, "she doesn't want to escape. She wants to work with me in the labs on a cure. It all makes sense in a weird way. She said Carlito put the cure inside me to protect me. Her obsession to find me wasn't just about the cure, it was to find her son. She would have been younger than I am now when Carlito forced her to give me up…" Nick paused, "I'm so confused, but all I know is that I want to find out for sure."

"What are you going to do Nick?" asked Harriet.

"I want to go to the labs, get a DNA test," said Nick simply.

"And what will you do if you find out she really is your mother?" asked Harriet.

Nick took a while to think. Her question really stumped him. He knew he wanted to know, but didn't know what he'd do with the information.

"Maybe nothing I guess. I don't know," said Nick, "what do we do from here? My home's destroyed, my life turned upside down. This is too much to handle, let alone with a raging hangover!" Nick surprised himself and gave a small chuckle. It was just too crazy to wrap his mind around.

"Well, life could be really good from here. If you play your cards right, you could sell your story and set yourself up for life. You could do whatever you like! Work on a cure? Work to prevent further outbreaks? Buy a garage?" said Harriet with a small smile.

Nick smiled too and put his arm around Harriet, "it's exciting I guess, and scary."

"And you don't have to do it alone," Harriet said with a big smile.

'Thank god you found me Harry," said Nick, "and not just because I would have been eaten on the freeway if you didn't."

"I thank fuck I found you too," said Harriet.

The house inside was beginning to stir. Groggy survivors were beginning to stumble around the house to begin the clean up. And there were bigger messes to clean up ahead. Los Perididos, bringing Isabela and others to justice, and working on the cure. But all that was ahead, all he had to do was look after today.

Nick kissed Harriet on the cheek, "and what do you want to do today?"

Harriet thought about it for a second, "I think I want to cook a big breakfast, and then go back to bed."


End file.
